Signs of Flirting
by Teddy.syn
Summary: Jounouchi's being subtle and Kaiba doesn't get it. Kaiba/Jou, shounen-ai theme. Complete. A companion piece is up but on hiatus.
1. He stares at you

Signs of Flirting

_**Signs of Flirting**_

_Teddy.syn_

**Chapter 1:** _He stares at you—a lot._

The day was warm, the air was clean, the sky was a deep, clear blue. The collective desire of the students to be outside, enjoying life, free, was so strong it was almost a palpable feeling, weighting the atmosphere in the classroom. The weight wasn't heavy, but rather electric: every person in the room could feel the tension—whether they wanted to or not.

Jounouchi Katsuya sighed, his eyes looking longingly in the general direction of the window. Seated in the far back of the classroom, on the side closest to the door, he was as far from the windows as he could possibly be—and as far from his friends, also. Yugi sat in the very front row, one seat over from the windows: he had to look past Anzu to see out. Her eyes were on the board at the front of the class, but it was clear that there would be no new material today. The teacher was every bit as enamored with the beauty of the sky as the students—as the clock ticked the seconds, the tension mounted.

Otogi sat next to Yugi, a fact he wasn't particularly pleased about, while Honda sat behind Anzu. Ryou was two seats behind Otogi. But Jounouchi's gaze wasn't fixed far enough forward for him to be interested in what his friends were up to: he stared directly to his side, casting his view past the boy who sat in the far back corner of the class, at the end of the column Anzu headed. Unlike the rest of the class, this boy was clearly not interested in the weather: his focus lay on the laptop computer on his desk, taken out when it was clear that there would be no new learning material.

Kaiba and Jounouchi had somehow managed to end up in the same class again, and in an attempt to keep them from destroying the school, they had been made to sit far out of punching range. Their ratio of fights to days had lessoned dramatically with the new system, as had the number of trips to the nurse's office. Yet nothing but nothing could keep Jounouchi's attention off of the elder Kaiba brother: he was lucky they were in the same class so that he could listen to the teacher while he stared. There was not a day when the brunette did not catch the blonde's attention.

** - - **

Kaiba Seto shifted uncomfortably. He could feel the tension in the air and knew that his classmates—the principal liked to call them his peers, though Kaiba disagreed wholeheartedly—were excited for the end of the school day. The general hype was practically visceral, but it was not the cause of the knots in Kaiba's shoulders, nor the tension headache that threatened of an oncoming migraine; no, Kaiba's tension was a direct result of the eyes he could feel boring into the side of his skull. The mutt was staring at him _again_.

When he had returned to school to find that he had been placed in the same class as Jounouchi for he wasn't even counting anymore how many years in a row, he hadn't really been surprised. While the mutt did his best to blend in on the streets, he was clearly smart enough to be in the same class as Seto himself—the only thing holding the mongrel back was his tendency to belittle himself to the point of uselessness. Seto's cruel comments endured during the early years of their relationship certainly hadn't helped. But their proportion of days sent to the office for fighting with each other to days spent in class at all had improved dramatically—almost to the point of being respectable—since Kaiba had made the compromise with Yugi. The deal was that Seto would refrain from all comments in any way canine in nature towards Jounouchi, in return for some peace: Yugi's end of the bargain was a requirement to drop the 'friends' idea, and to stop pestering him about work so much. The first part of the deal hardly mattered anymore, though: the older Kaiba had begun to eat lunch with 'the gang' whenever he didn't have too much work to do. Some compromise, when Kaiba basically got nothing and still had to put up with the mangy filth's staring _every day!_

Seto had decided weeks ago that Jounouchi's new purpose in life was to drive the elder Kaiba brother insane. It was the only possible explanation for the ridiculous behavior: what else could the fur ball be attempting, so late in their high school career? Staring at him every day, nonstop, like he was trying to give the boy a complex. Was this his passive-aggressive method of letting the brunette know he worked too much? If it was, it was working. The computer screen didn't help the headache that inevitably came with the staring, and time spent not working in school was setting Kaiba further and further behind at work.

It hadn't begun the first day of school—the staring, that was—Kaiba was sure of that. It seemed to him it had occurred around the time of the first change in seating, when the mutt had realized they were _purposefully_ being kept separate—likely a ploy by the administration to keep them from fighting, lacking knowledge of the truce between the two best duelists in the school. Clearly Jounouchi's actions weren't an attack that had been meditated over the summer and put into effect with such determination as soon as possible—no, it was a reaction to the loss of their fighting. Kaiba was sure. Apparently, Jounouchi wasn't in on the bargain.

What bothered Seto the most, though, wasn't the fact of the staring at all. In truth, it was the method that was getting to the brunette. The look on the blonde's face wasn't one of loathing, of hate or one of the numerous expressions of the varying degrees of upset. He wasn't looking at Kaiba as though the boy had grown a second head, or bat ears, or some other decidedly inhuman body part or irregularity. He was staring as though… as though… Kaiba didn't know. He could tell it wasn't a look of disgust, of hatred—but he couldn't tell what, exactly, it _was_. Above all else, it was the knowledge that he didn't know what was going on in the blonde's mind that made him so tense.

He could practically see the scowl on his masseuse's face when she went to work on his back, and he smirked. Then he scowled, himself, and turned to glare at the clock, willing the seconds to pass faster so he could leave and take a pain killer. The facial expressions were definitely not helping his Jounouchi-induced headache—though the computer screen, and the programming problem he had been working on, certainly couldn't be counted off of the list of contributors to the pain either. He decided to ignore the programming issue for the moment and closed the laptop, forcing it to sleep and save battery. He would deal with it when the school day ended and he could get away from the mutt and his rude behavior.

As he finished gathering his school supplies in an effort to be ready to bolt at the sound of the final bell, Seto glanced across the room, catching the blonde mutt's gaze and attempting to hold it, to challenge. It didn't work. The instant their eyes met, Jounouchi's face had flushed red, and he had dropped his gaze to the floor. Seto continued to glare at him, willing him to look up, to do something confrontational. He wanted the massage, but he wanted a fight even more. Seto kept staring, and eventually got the first part of his wish. Jounouchi glanced up, peering out from under his eyelashes, checking to see if the elder Kaiba was still looking at him. Then he smiled, slightly—a small, teasing smile—and the bell rang. Jounouchi sat still and waited for the rest of the class to filter out of the room, then smirked and stood himself, leaving Seto to sit, confused and furious.

The mutt had been laughing at him. _Laughing_. That worthless mangy cur who had somehow deluded himself into thinking he had some sort of right to be so obsessed, so intent, after all this time, and he was _laughing_? At Seto Kaiba? Impossible. It was ridiculous—Seto was sure there was nothing humorous about his appearance, he hadn't said anything stupid, he wasn't _trying_ to be funny. And yet there it was. There was no other explanation for that smile, that smirk, that ridiculous obsession that just wouldn't go away. What could the mutt possibly be thinking?

And for God's sake, why?


	2. He hits you often, playfully

Signs of Flirting

_**Signs of Flirting**_

___Teddy.syn_

**Chapter 2: **_He hits you often (just play hitting)_

The weather had spawned another glorious day, blatantly refusing to accept that with the coming of a new school year, summer was officially over. In fact, the school year had started weeks ago, and yet the weather was not the last hold out of good cheer. Seto Kaiba sat in a shaded part of the circle of Yugi's friends and tried desperately to pretend that this was not the case.

The group was sitting on a rare patch of grass on the school grounds, partially shaded by a large deciduous tree in full summer bloom. The day was sweltering hot, and Kaiba had shed his long coat to find some relief from the heat. As Honda made another lewd joke and Jounouchi laughed and punched Seto's arm in that friendly, inclusive manner—for what must have been the fourth time that day—Kaiba wondered if maybe he regretted that decision. He missed the extra padding.

Then again, Seto thought, at least while we're sitting next to each other he isn't staring. The brunette had discovered this fact very early in the school year, and had made it a point to discreetly seat himself as close as possible to the blonde whenever the opportunity arose. In class, they were still being kept separate, and aside from going to the school board—an act he really had no time for—there was little Kaiba could do to alleviate the problem.

The others in Yugi's group (including Yugi himself) didn't really seem to have noticed Seto's new seating habit—they mostly avoided paying attention to him in general, actually—but Jounouchi was visibly jubilant. Seto insisted to himself that the fault for the blonde's high spirits lay with the sun, and the lack of clouds, and not the common seating arrangement, but he had noticed—had done his very best _not_ to notice—how Jounouchi always seemed to perk up when Kaiba walked over, always scooted over to make room.

Whatever the cause, Jounouchi's happiness appeared to be catching. The group was all smiles and laughter, joking about teachers, classmates, each other. Jounouchi made a playful remark about Honda's apparently non-existent love life and gave Kaiba another not-so-gentle jab. The brunette wondered briefly if Yugi would let him get away with attacking back. He figured his chances of getting double-teamed by Yugi and Anzu, armed with one of her somewhat infamous "friendship" speeches, was a bit too high for comfort, and decided—reluctantly—to drop the idea.

He turned to glance at the blonde, who had turned his attention elsewhere, and decided that allowing himself to daydream might not be such a bad idea after all. Yugi would never know, and the mutt was just such a prime target….

_If I waited for him to hit me one more time,_ Kaiba thought to himself, _I could hit him back. I could say, 'Filthy mutt, keep your dirty paws off of me!' Well, I probably couldn't, but at least I can still think of him as a dog in my head. _Kaiba glanced around at the surroundings. _There's plenty of room for us to roll around out here, and the grass is definitely softer than the classroom floor. We wouldn't have to watch out for desks, and it's secluded enough that the teachers would only come if the midget started to yell at us…_

Kaiba ceased to care about the other teens sitting around him as he delved deeper into his contemplations. _We could get some blood pumping, let all of the tension out, really enjoy a good fight. The puppy's eyes would get that frantic, pissed off look like always, like he's some wild stray. We'd attack each other for control, and get so lost neither of us really knew who had it anymore, but it wouldn't matter because—_

"So, Kaiba," Honda said, geared up to regain the pride Jounouchi had stolen from him moments before, "how come you never take us to meet your girl?" Seto's attention had been caught when his name was voiced, but as he listened to and processed the biker's words his thoughtful look turned into an icy glare. He had made it very clear that while he tolerated them at school, it was mostly just to get Yugi to shut up, and his personal life—with the exception of Mokuba, who had developed something akin to hero worship for Yugi and clearly considered both Yugi and Jounouchi close friends—was not open to them or to anyone else for discussion.

Honda grinned back into Seto's glare, clearly not realizing his danger. "C'mon, man, we're all friends here. You can't keep her hidden forever."

Kaiba missed the shadow that fled through Jounouchi's eyes for just a second before the blonde stood abruptly and ran off, calling something about needing to talk to the teacher over his shoulder. He rounded a corner of the school building quickly, leaving his friends to wonder what was going on.

"What happened to him?" Otogi asked, confused. Seto smiled. Jounouchi's timely exit had drawn the attention away from his own private life.

"He said he needed to talk to a teacher, right?" Anzu had been staring at Yugi, and hadn't looked up until Jou was already running off.

"Yeah," Yugi agreed with her quietly, "but he looked kind of… sick. I hope he's OK." He stared worriedly in the direction Jounouchi had gone, clearly upset.

Honda had seen it, too. "He was fine this morning though, right? He was eating like a pig just earlier today, just like usual, right? But then he suddenly got really pale. Did he get food poisoning?"

"He did look kind of like he was going to throw up," Yugi fretted. "Should I go check on him?"

"Maybe he just realized he forgot to turn in his homework, and he was worried the teacher wouldn't accept it late. He said he was going to the teacher, didn't he?" Kaiba drawled. He understood that they were worried for their friend—he would worry, if it were Mokuba—but the boy hadn't sounded like he was sick when he called back. Just somewhat upset. The sort of upset you might be if you had become an honors student after years of delinquency and had just realized you forgot to turn your homework in. Somewhat agitated, a nervous tremor, excited in a bad way—energetic, but worried—pale at the realization. Maybe a little sick looking, if you were _that_ worried. Jou didn't have to worry that much, though—his grades were well out of the danger zone. Apparently he had been getting tutored. "I think you worry too much."

"He's right, you guys," Otogi said, faking cheer. "Jou can take care of himself. It was probably a late homework assignment, like Kaiba said." Honda frowned. Clearly, he was not buying the late homework explanation.

Yugi also disagreed. "He's been doing so well, though. He never forgets his homework anymore. Besides, what could have reminded him of schoolwork so suddenly? We were talking about Kaiba, right?" Yugi looked at Seto, somewhat concerned—but mostly, his eyes were accusing. He looked like he was about to ask if they had gotten into another fight.

"Maybe Kaiba reminds Jou of work in general," Ryou suggested, "and it just clicked in his head that he had forgotten to turn in the assignment?" Kaiba glared at the white-haired boy, recognizing the veiled insinuation that he worked too much, and Ryou smiled sheepishly.

_But,_ Kaiba thought, _Yugi and Ryou are right. He looked up at the same time I did—when Honda said my name. And he left after Honda asked about—about my—_ Seto couldn't even think the word, _and Yugi and Honda say he looked pale. No, Ryou is right. Attention was called to me for the first time since lunch started—him hitting me doesn't count, it was done in the spirit of fun, he clearly wasn't really thinking about _me_—and all it took was a split second, and he linked me with work and work with homework and homework with he didn't turn his in, and ran off. That's all. That has to be all._

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. As the majority of the group scrambled to make it to class on time, Yugi hung back, walking toward the building in step with his old rival. "You guys didn't, uh, fight or anything, did you?" Yugi's voice was low, not wanting to be overheard.

Kaiba paused, not really wanting to draw attention to the one thing that would likely prove his innocence. The CEO held his silence for a moment, then glanced down at the short boy next to him. At the look in Yugi's eyes, he gave up on all pretenses and murmured, "Would I have sat next to him if we were fighting?"

"If you thought it would keep me from finding out, you might. Jou sure _acted_ like you told him to act friendly—did you threaten to do something to him, if he didn't pretend that nothing had happened?"

"I did not threaten the mutt!" Seto hissed, his eyes narrow in anger. "I sat there all lunch to make _you_ happy—you, Mr. Let's All Be Friends—enduring him hitting me at every opportunity, and I did not strike back _once_. I did not call him names to his face. I didn't yell at him or tell him to leave me alone or leave you dimwits to go get some work done or say or do anything antisocial at all. And you accuse me of fighting with him and of _threatening_ him—" Kaiba's eyes flashed as Yugi cut in quickly.

"No, no! I'm sorry, it just seemed like—Jou's been acting really friendly to you recently, you know? And we've all been trying to give you space, but Honda's the sort of guy that's either in all the way or not in at all and he figures you should be, too, so he tries to tease you like he does the rest of us, you know? But then Jou got all upset when he started talking to you, so I," Yugi wilted under Kaiba's glare, "…I thought maybe something happened. That's all."

"I didn't do anything to him," Seto said softly—he didn't want to shout in the corridors. "I'm just as shocked as you are that he's acting so friendly all of a sudden. I certainly have nothing to do with it."

"I'll talk to him," Yugi promised. "Find out what's going on." He smiled brightly and headed into the classroom.

_Ask him _why_, you spiky-headed midget_, Kaiba thought venomously. He frowned at himself and headed into the classroom. He went the back way to his seat to avoid the attention of the other students—straight down the wall by the door and turn a corner behind Jou, then walk to the other side of the room. As he passed Jounouchi, he watched: the blonde deliberately, smoothly, turned his head so that he was always facing exactly away from the CEO. As the bell rang and class started, Kaiba could feel the blonde's gaze once again resuming their position fixated on the side of his head.

And Kaiba Seto was left to sit and wonder, _why_?

**- -**

A/N: That turned out longer than I originally intended. When I started this chapter, it was going to end with Kaiba being confused and Yugi catching on right after Jou leaves the circle at lunch. Suddenly, it was half that again (in the end, it was more than twice what it was supposed to be). I made a snap decision to go with setting myself up to actually develop Seto getting closer and closer to figuring it out instead of leaving all of the revelations to occur at the very end, the way I meant it to be. :\

I'll just call it a treat for Pennypidgeon and leave it at that. (:

On a lighter note, I reached my goal of one review—a lot sooner than I expected, too. I was hoping for one review when the story was complete, but the first chapter had only been up for three hours and I already had forty-nine visitors, one review, two adds to Story Alert lists and one add to Favorite Stories list. Thanks, you guys!


	3. He makes conversation

Signs of Flirting

_**Signs of Flirting**_

_Teddy.syn_

**Chapter 3: **_He uses the first thing that pops into his head to start a conversation with you_

"Hey, Kaiba, I like your boots. Where'd you get them?"

"They're custom."

"Is your jacket custom, too?"

"Yeah."

"Are they designer, or just—"

"Nobody important."

"So, what are you doing on Saturday?"

"Working."

"On the weekend?"

"Yes."

"But—"

"Do you _want_ something?"

Seto turned and glared at Jou. The blonde smiled back. He was definitely not in the mood to stop. Jounouchi had been questioning the older Kaiba in just this manner all day—before class, during breaks, during lunch, and now it continued after school. The rapid-fire questioning was, to Seto, a newly found threat: apparently, Jou was learning new ways to give Seto a migraine. The brunette was, to say the least, not pleased.

Worse, Seto had plans to spend even _more_ time with Jou after school—they were going with everyone else to the mall, ostensibly to hang out and eat semi-decent food. Seto wasn't sure he approved.

"I just want to know more about you. You never talk to any of us. We're supposed to be your friends, right?"

"Right." The answer came automatically, a mixed result of the quick question and answering, like a psychological test, and the months that Seto had spent at this point putting up with Yugi and Anzu and their ridiculous notions of friendship and interdependence.

Jounouchi did not seem impressed with the answer.

"When did you get this big stick up your butt, Kaiba?" And then Jou was blushing and stammering an apology, turning to leave. Seto wasn't listening to any of that. He was thinking of the answer to the question. It was true that he hadn't always been this way: when they first met, Seto had been mildly interested in his classmates, at least in as far as they could help him to move forward. It wasn't until he had learned that Yugi's grandfather was hoarding the fourth Blue-Eyes that he had run off to destroy the lot of them.

Said stick never bothered him in his relationship with Mokuba. The two brothers got along just fine. Seto clearly had the ability to function in the capacity as a compassionate, kind, polite, and sympathetic, if not empathetic, individual. Why couldn't he use that ability at school? What was holding him back from being nice to these people, who were trying so hard to be nice to him, despite what a jerk he'd been to them time and again?

Seto processed all of this in less than a second, and reached out to grab the half-turned Jounouchi, catching him by the sleeve. At this point, they were alone in the classroom: their friends had gone ahead of them, and the teacher trusted Seto, if not Jou, to leave the classroom in good condition.

Seto caught Jou by the sleeve and the tug pulled the blonde, only on one foot as he turned to escape, off balance. Jounouchi's momentum carried him forward even as his direction changed, and he crashed into Seto. So suddenly, they were kissing. It was warm, and dry, and very human—with no spark of electricity or fireworks or amazing taste. It didn't even last a second before Jounouchi pulled away—with too much force. He crashed into a desk, stumbled, and caught his footing, looking up at Seto from a half-crouch with confused, repentant eyes. "I wasn't trying to be rude or nothin'—"

"You made a good point." Seto said this in the exact same tone as he had used to say, "right," just moments before—not appraising, not a put-down, and with no inference that he had even noticed their contact: it was just an answer.

There was a very long, very quite pause.

"Um, we should go catch up with everyone," Jou's face was bright red.

Seto released Jou's sleeve, which had become somewhat twisted around the blonde's arm during his fall, but didn't move otherwise. He didn't even let his eyes flicker to the door.

Jou stood from his crouch and suddenly they were so close—but not that close. Seto didn't move to regain contact with Jou, and Jou, mentally off-balance from the strange turn of this conversation, and the somewhat upsetting lack of response to unforeseen action, did not move to attain it either. They stared at each other, Seto's eyes cold, calculating, reading Jou's that were open, confused, warm.

"Um… do you like animals?" Jou asked, trying to tear his eyes away, to resume some semblance of normalicy, to get back in the game and away from whatever it was that had _not_ just happened.

"Not all of them." The answer was cold.

"And, what about me…?" Jou's voice was a whisper.

"…I don't hate you" came the frosty reply. But then Seto smiled—not a smirk, but not a large grin—and broke the gaze, turning to walk out the door.

**- -**

Seto was confused, disoriented, and upset. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Nothing even remotely similar. He realized he was beginning to blush, but the knowledge, instead of empowering him and allowing him to focus on calming down, only caused him more embarrassment. His light flush went from pale pink to a darker rose. Kaiba could sense the beginning of a bad feedback loop, and hated himself for being unable to stop it. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know what was happening to him, but it _was_ his fault that he couldn't do anything to fix it. It was his fault that he couldn't control his body the way he wanted to—the way he always had before. It wasn't _his_ fault. Seto hadn't changed at all. There was no reason why he shouldn't be able to continue the way he always had been. It didn't matter that even though he remained the same, unchanging, others moved forward and grew. They couldn't possibly have any effect on him. Yet they must—somehow. Kaiba didn't want to admit it, but it was the only thing that could possibly make sense. For every effect, there had to be a cause, a reason. And only outside stimulation could possibly have this effect.

Seto Kaiba was fidgeting.

"Kaiba, are you OK?" Yugi asked. Of the entire group, Yugi had always been the one most perceptive to the general discomfort of others. Usually, this was a great trait to have in a friend. Right now, Kaiba wished Yugi hadn't noticed. His blush had been almost bearable when he thought no one was paying attention. "Hey, you're bright red. Is something wrong?"

Seto took a moment to consider the question. Yugi's notice had provided his mind with the excuse his body needed to calm down: with someone paying attention, he couldn't afford to look anything less than schooled perfect. Other than the blush, which was fixed, and the random nerve firings, which he couldn't do anything about—was something wrong? And not just with him—the question hadn't specified "is something wrong with _you,_" though that had sort of been implied. Was something wrong?

Moving his focus off of his own body, he took in the people surrounding him. Relaxed, cheerful. Yugi showed slight hints of measured worry—he was _trying_ to be friendly. Anzu was shivering, waiting for Yugi to notice her and give her his jacket. The weather had progressed from summer hot to autumn hot quickly, but was now in the long autumn chilly stage.

Otogi and Ryou, laughing. Check. Honda, consternated—the butt of the joke, apparently. Check. Jounouchi… staring. Seto wrestled with himself: _That is not _right_ behavior, therefore it's _wrong_! _On the other hand… _after three months, it's hardly out of the normal range of variation_. He growled at himself and mentally added, _check_. He glanced at the sky. It was slightly cloudy, but not about to rain. Check. Since he wasn't about to consider the world at large… Yugi would roll his eyes if he mentioned far-away wars. No, nothing was wrong.

Except the fidgeting.

"I'm fine."

Yugi didn't really look like he bought it, but he shrugged and dropped the subject. He returned his attention to Anzu and his other friends, leaving Seto to reflect once again on himself. It didn't take long for his focus to shift, once again, outward.

"Kaiba, do you like puppies?" It was Jounouchi's turn to feel the gazes of others on him, now. The entire group had turned to stare when the blonde started talking—he hadn't spoken more than two words to any of them since school got out, being uncharacteristically quiet. Instead, he had focused all of his attention inward, merely leaving his gaze trained in Seto's direction while he worked on the question in his mind.

Seto was thrown by the question, but recovered quickly. _Do I bait him, or should I play nice for once?_ "I don't hate them," he decided on the truth and refrained from asking, _"Why do you care?"_

Jounouchi blushed and looked away.

Seto caught himself staring at the boy, unable to look away, wondering, confused, intrigued. This was another one of the blonde's ploys, he was sure. First to get him to stop working during class. Now to force Kaiba to do some of the staring. Jounouchi must be tired of holding his neck in the same direction all of the time. Seto wasn't going to give in.

He stood up and grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair. They had been hanging out at the food court in their local mall, but Seto was no longer interested in spending time with the geek squad. "I have to go," he said simply. Two months ago, he wouldn't even have bothered with that much. Mokuba, another one of the driving forces behind Seto's new 'friendship,' would be pleased to hear how polite he had been.

Jounouchi and Yugi traded glances as Seto turned to walk away, Yugi's concerned, Jou's frantic and desperate. "Um, hey, Kaiba!" Jou called, his eyes darting back and forth between Yugi and Seto's back. "Do you have a couple more minutes? I was about to discuss something…"

Seto took a deep breath and counted to ten. He had been sitting at that damn table for an hour and a half, just to be friendly. And only _now_ was the mutt getting to the reason for the call to social gathering? Kaiba turned and glared, but it was enough for Jou: he now had everyone's attention.

"As you all know," he started, "This being November, December is only a few weeks away. And with December comes Christmas." Seto groaned inwardly as he saw the eyes of the other group members light up. "Now, I have taken it upon myself, as I do every year, to organize our annual Secret Santa game." He rummaged in his bag and drew out a slightly crumpled, wide brimmed polyester costume top hat. He grinned and set it on the center of the table. "I have written our names on individual scraps of paper, and tossed them into the hat. In a moment, we'll go around clockwise and choose our partners. If you draw your own name, lay it writing up on the table so we all can see, and then put it back and draw again. When you draw someone else's name, do not show it to anyone else. Our spending limit this year is fifty dollars. I'll draw first, but you should all know that Mokuba drew already, and his name is in here too." Jou drew a name and smiled, then nodded to Yugi.

Kaiba couldn't believe he was going to be forced into playing this ridiculous game, but if his name was in the hat and someone else had drawn it, it wouldn't be polite only to get and not to give. He was the last to draw. He reached in, tentative, cautious, and pulled out the scrap of paper. Looking at the name scrawled down, he relaxed. Of course he had every intention of getting Mokuba a gift anyway, Secret Santa or not. "If that's all…" he looked at Jou and raised a perfect eyebrow. "I have things to do."

No one stopped him, so he turned and walked away, headed out of the mall to the front parking lot, where the limo and driver waited patiently. He had already opened the door and was getting into the back seat when he heard his name and turned to see Jou running up to him.

"Kaiba!" he called, somewhat breathless. Seto shook his head, mentally telling himself that he did _not_ like the way Jounouchi's cheeks flushed pink after his run. "Can I have a ride?"

**- -**

In the silence of the back seat, Seto wondered at the reasons behind Jou's request. Though their relationship had changed since Yugi adopted the elder Kaiba into the group, and though Seto did his best to be polite, the two were not close friends. Discounting the events in the classroom this afternoon—and Seto was very firmly discounting them—there weren't a lot of things that would end with the result of Jou asking Kaiba for a ride.

It was foggy, but not raining. It was cold, but not freezing, and Jou had his jacket anyway. Inversely, it was cool, and not blazing hot—and Jou's apartment was not that far from the mall. His bag didn't look particularly heavy today. As possible reasons, the weather and distance were out.

The distance really wasn't that great. They had arrived already, and while Jou was fidgeting—clearly on the verge of saying something—time was short. Seto prodded him along. "We're here." There was no response. A situation that called for drastic measures, then. "Get out of the car, mutt."

Jou sat up in a jolt. There was accusation in his eyes when he turned to look at Seto, and the brunette expected the words to come out somewhere along the lines of, "you haven't called me that in months." Instead, Jou said, "You say that, but you like dogs, don't you?" His eyes laughed now.

Seto stared back, and then said politely, infuriatingly "I don't hate them."

"When you say you don't hate something…"

"It means I don't hate it. Get out."

Jou grinned and got out.

**- -**

I didn't convert this to yen because I'm writing in English, not Japanese. If I were being authentic, it would be roughly 5100 yen—maybe a little more.

Well, that's better. Kind of. I wasn't really intending to make them kiss so soon! But I wrote this chapter Star Wars style—first the middle, then the beginning, then the end. So I already had Seto fidgeting, and then I added in the classroom scene, and at the end of writing it, I realized there was no reason for Seto to be so upset—so I tossed in that freebee. I hope you all enjoyed it, as drab as it was. And I hope you don't hate me for giving Seto Mokuba as the object of his Secret Santa game. There are reasons for the choice, but you're going to have to bug me if you want to know.


	4. He makes you laugh

Signs of Flirting

_**Signs of Flirting**_

_Teddy.syn_

**Chapter 4:** _He tries to make you laugh in any way, even if he gets hurt in the process_

"I'm happy to see that the rain hasn't dampened your spirits any," Jou muttered as he got into the limo with less than obvious relief. There was still another mile to school, and the rain was coming down in sheets. He knew he was lucky that Seto had seen him and pulled over to give him a lift, but he couldn't help but be displeased at how cold and wet he was already—and it was only Monday. Especially when the CEO had his own driver for his own car—a driver slash personal attendant that would hold both the door and Kaiba's umbrella for him when he got out of the car.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Seto's tone was frosty, his blue eyes ice.

"Just that your mood isn't any more sour today than it is any other day of the week." Jou stared out the tinted window to the dark streets, and shivered. He didn't see Kaiba turn the backseat heater up. "Where's Mokuba today?"

"He's staying home today," the older Kaiba bit out. He was clearly in a mood much worse than anything Jou had ever seen before, despite the blonde's earlier comment.

"Why? Don't you let him go out in the rain? Or are you afraid he might catch a cold?" Jou said angrily.

"Maybe I should have been more protective. He already has one," Kaiba snarled. Jou immediately backed down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Is he OK?" His tone conveyed his apology, his fear for his friend, his worry.

Seto calmed down a bit at Jou's genuine concern. "He'll probably be fine," he said quietly. The way his shoulders slumped suggested that nothing would ever be fine again.

Jou stared at the downcast brunette for a moment before turning again to look out of the window. The rest of the ride passed in silence, and Jou hopped out of the limo as soon as they got to school, not letting the chauffer open the door for him.

**- -**

Seto noticed immediately that Yugi and his group were being especially careful and polite around him today. Neither Honda nor Anzu made any insensitive comments. Yugi did not inquire after Kaiba's health or state of mind. Ryou kept the conversation light and easy, and no one made an effort to force Kaiba to contribute. Jou was mellow, instead of boisterous, but otherwise did not make any move away from the brunette. It wasn't until their arms pressed up against each other that Seto realized the blonde was sitting closer than usual. Seto was surprised but not startled, and slowly, like exhaling a long in held breath, he relaxed to lean against the other boy.

**- -**

As the week wore on, Mokuba did not get better. The group continued to do what they could to be considerate of Seto in his time of need, especially as his temperament worsened to match his brother's health.

On Wednesday, Seto did not show up at school. Yugi called the mansion and was informed that both of the Kaiba brothers were currently at the Domino City General Hospital. Mokuba had pneumonia.

**- -**

On Thursday, Jou also failed to make it to class. He had gone to lend moral support to Seto.

**- -**

"You want some coffee?" Jou held the dark liquid out.

"Thanks."

Seto was definitely worse for the wear. He was paler than usual, with deep bags under his eyes the color of fading bruises. His clothes hung off of his frame, his eyes were dull. Jou had exhausted his supply of jokes and, knowing better than to pull faces—Seto did not appreciate such juvenile humor—was at a loss for what to do. He had debated seriously running to a costume shop to dress up as a dog, but decided finally that such actions would only serve to antagonize the elder Kaiba. He wanted desperately to do something to cheer the brunette up, but there was nothing he could do.

His salvation came wearing a white lab coat. "Mr. Kaiba?" the doctor asked softly. From Seto's slumped position, the doctor probably thought the boy was asleep. Jou knew better.

Seto didn't raise his head to answer. "That's me."

The doctor looked relieved. "Your brother's health took a turn for the better. We'll need to keep him here for a couple more days, but he is going to be just fine."

"Thank you," Kaiba said, monotone. The doctor glanced worriedly at Jou, but the blonde shook his head and the doctor walked off.

There was a pause, a tense silence, as Jou waited for Seto to snap out of his stupor. He listened to the rain pelting at the windows. Finally, Seto looked up, slowly, and turned to face Jou. "Jou?"

"I'm here."

"Did that doctor just say…?"

"Mokuba's gonna be OK, yeah."

"You're sure I didn't dream that?"

"I'm sure."

"Are you positive?"

"Seto, are you going to go see him or what?"

Seto stared at him for a moment, stiff, almost uncomprehending. And then he relaxed, and a look of relief flooded his features and he smiled a weak but genuinely happy smile. Jou grinned back, and was startled when he stood to lead Seto to Mokuba's room—a nurse was indicating that he was ready for visitors—and suddenly found himself crushed into a somewhat desperate hug. "Thank you for staying here with me," Seto murmured into Jou's hair.

"It—it wasn't nothin'," Jou stammered, surprised. He was suddenly grateful that Seto couldn't see his face, which was bright red.

"It meant a lot to me." Kaiba pulled away and looked Jou in the face. "Just say 'you're welcome' and let's be done already, OK?"

Jou stared. "You're welcome."

Kaiba grinned, and then laughed.

**- -**

A/N: WOOO!! This chapter gave me more grief than the last one. It took me a long time to figure out how to work with the chain mail and not make both of them completely out of character based on how the story had developed so far. I probably should have spent more effort thinking about this before I wrote it, because I'm totally not setting myself up for the next chapters at all. . But I really wanted to get this chapter out to you as soon as I could.

On a darker note (if it is possible to have notes darker than "I couldn't write this chapter") I'm starting school tomorrow. That in and of itself isn't particularly dark, but what is dark is that with school comes homework and in the face of homework, free time dwindles. Basically, I'll update when I can, but don't be mad if it takes me a long time.


	5. He speaks softly to you

Signs of Flirting

_**Signs of Flirting**_

_Teddy.syn_

**Chapter 5: **_His voice gets softer ("_Hey_, you") when you two talk_

"Kaiba."

The word was soft-spoken, stirring the grass by his ear. Seto didn't even crack an eye open to answer: he knew that voice. "Jou," he murmured in reply. This late in November, warm sunny days were rare, and Seto, ahead at work for perhaps the first time in his life, was taking advantage. The sun turned his eyelids orange, and he felt like he could see the vessels. The grass in the park hadn't been cut recently, and was long and soft. It didn't smell too strongly. There was a whole other day of weekend coming up tomorrow. It was as if everything in his life had aligned itself to tell him that he should just… take a nap.

"Kaiba, wake up."

Seto considered that one for all of half a second. "No."

"Kaiba, don't you have to be somewhere? Like, _now_?"

"What?" The word came out slurred with sleep. He didn't have anywhere to be. He was busy. He was sleeping. Kaiba felt like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Kaiba, are you sick? Mokuba's getting out of the hospital today! You're supposed to go pick him up." The words were excited, but quiet. Jounouchi didn't want to yell.

"…Mokuba?" The name sounded familiar. Vaguely.

"Jou, are you coming?" Ryou called from the classroom door. "We're going shopping together today, right?"

"Just hold on a minute. I think Kaiba's sick or something," Jou said. "Call the teacher."

"I'm not sick." Kaiba opened his eyes and was surprised to not see any grass. He was surprised again to see that he was lying sprawled on his desk in the classroom, with Jou standing over him. He sat up quickly and looked around, blinking sleep out of his eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's almost three-thirty," Jou said softly. "Are you OK?"

"I have to go!" Kaiba realized, startled. He grabbed his coat and ran past Jou, skidded on the corner, found his feet, and dashed out the door. Jou stared after him, stunned.

"Maybe he is sick," Ryou said, wide-eyed, as Jou met him at the door.

"I'll call him later tonight and find out what's up," Jounouchi vowed. "C'mon. Let's go. Christmas shopping!"

**- -**

The phone rang. Once, twice. Again. The fourth ring was cut off, and echoed around the house. Mokuba had answered it. Seto could dimly hear him chirping conversation. God, it was good to have him back in the house. Healthy. Seto rolled onto his other side in bed and went back to sleep.

"Jou! It's so good to talk to you! Yeah, I'm totally fine now."

"_You sure gave us all a scare. I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Listen, while I have you on the line, what does Seto want for Christmas?"_

"Christmas…? I don't know. It's so hard to get gifts for him, he has so much money that he buys anything he wants that can be bought for himself, and doesn't even bother waiting. One year he told me that his perfect Christmas gift from me would be my report card with all passing grades… well, I won't get into that. He's not a very material person, either, so that doesn't really help."

"_You can't think of anything?"_

"Why? Is he your Secret Santa recipient?"

"_He is. And I'm feeling totally screwed. I have no idea what to get for him, and it's nearly December already. And I can't really ask him, can I? It would be kind of obvious if I did."_

"I'll ask for you—it wouldn't be odd for me to want to know. But you have to tell me what Yugi wants in return."

"_Deal. Is your brother OK? He seems kind of out of it, lately."_

"Seto? I think he's working. I'll check. What's been wrong?"

"_I guess I'm just a little worried. He fell asleep in class today."_

"Seto sleeps in class all the time. It's not like he goes to school to learn or anything—smarty-pants. And he's always working when he's not at school."

"_He's been sleeping a lot more recently. He nearly missed going to pick you up today. I had to wake him up after class, and he missed hearing about at least two of the assignments today. Is he maybe working to hard?"_

"I hadn't noticed anything myself, but I'll keep an eye on him. I think he's working now, but I can check and see if you want to talk to him."

"_Thank you."_

Mokuba stopped outside of his brother's room, then knocked softly. "Seto…?" He pushed the door open gently and peered in. "He's asleep," he whispered into the receiver, awed. "He's usually working at this time of day."

"_He's been working more at school recently, too. Well, if he had been awake I would have asked to talk to him, but since he's asleep can you just give him a message from me? Tell him that if something big is happening at Kaiba Corp. he should take some time off from school to deal with it. And remind him to sleep at night. And that there's a homework assignment posted on his government teacher's website."_

"I'll tell him, Jou. Oh, he's awake. Seto, do you want to talk to Jou?"

Kaiba stared at Mokuba, standing in his bedroom doorway holding out a portable phone, offering him the chance to talk to the mutt first thing after waking up at seven o' clock on a school night. He decided that it would be better for both of their health's to decline the invitation. Then he decided that it would be better for his social interaction hours for the week to take the call. He gestured Mokuba inside the room and accepted the phone.

"_Kaiba?"_

"Mmrrrgh. Yes."

"_Hey, are you OK? You're not getting sick, are you?"_

"Seto Kaiba does not get sick, thank you."

"_I'm not trying to antagonize you."_

"You don't have to try."

"_Why are you being such a dick today? Did I do something?"_

Again, Seto found himself pausing to reflect on his behavior. He could blame having been woken up for his crabbiness, but that really wasn't an excuse. What could he do, except back down? Backing down was not Kaiba style. Challenging was Kaiba style. But he was wrong this time, and he knew it, and challenging Jou on this point would just make him sound like more of an asshole. For some reason, Seto was starting to feel that Jou's opinion of him mattered. "You didn't do anything, no."

"…_Are you sure you're not sick? Shouldn't you be yelling at me about now?"_

"I'm trying to be nice, Jou. Don't make it any harder on me than it already is."

"_Yes, sir."_

"Did you want something?"

"_No. I'm set, thanks."_

**- -**

A/N: I am so sorry. For so many things. First, I want to apologize for my tardiness. I realize that it has been no less than five weeks and one day since I last posted a chapter. Second, for all of you who received two e-mails today about chapter 4, I'd like tot apologize again. I was fixing spelling errors in chapter 2, so I had to delete the chapter and repost it as 4 and then move it to 2. Then I was fixing chapter 4 (I changed the ending slightly, if you didn't look—it doesn't really matter for plot, but I felt like doing it so I did it) itself, hence the second e-mail. Third, though most of you probably won't notice, I'd like to apologize for two short chapters in a row. This one is actually even shorter than chapter 4.

I would also like to say thank you to all of you who are reading this story; to all of you who review; to all of you who have added me to your Alerts or Favorites list and thus have to put up with my editing e-mails. Signs of Flirting is, most certainly, a work in progress. Also, all of you who read my Author's Notes are really good people. Thank you. Chapter six will either be up at the end of this weekend or not for another several weeks (I haven't started it yet, but maybe my creative juices are flowing today. After all, I hadn't written chapter five at the beginning of today, and look at it now). I apologize for the inconvenience.

I'm considering starting another project. Those of you (if you exist) who have read my Bio know about it already. It's a companion piece to Signs of Flirting, written from Jou's point of view. By the time I finish with both of the stories, they should be able to stand each by themselves and complement, but not depend on, each other. I'm not planning on posting the other story until Signs of Flirting is finished… we have another six chapters to go, give or take one or two. However, it should come out fairly quickly, increment wise, once I get started. I'm planning to be done with Signs of Flirting by, say… the middle of Winter Break, so that I can start the next one. I know, that gives me a lot of time, but I get to be a busy person sometimes.

See you next chapter!


	6. He calls you back

_**Signs of Flirting**_

**Chapter 6: **_You hung up on him. He called you back._

Seto Kaiba sat at his desk, typing. Finishing the e-mail, he leaned back and flexed his fingers, cramped from too many hours at the keyboard. After Jou's urging, he had cut school to deal with the latest programming snare, and several unexpected bugs had contributed to the task taking several times longer than it should have. Kaiba smiled to himself, proud of his skill, and resumed typing.

A red light on the dull black desk phone sitting next to his computer flashed; Kaiba ignored it. He wasn't taking business calls right now. His secretary could manage, or be fired: she was paid far more than anyone might expect to do just that. The light stopped flashing. His fingers paused for half a second in their dance over the board as he considered coffee, but he almost immediately discarded the idea: the caffeine buzz would be too distracting.

The intercom lit with a rush of static, and then his secretary's voice came on, garbled by a connection ready to be replaced. It hadn't been for various reasons, the foremost of which that Kaiba's secretary was there to deal with the things he didn't feel like dealing with, and thus no matter how many times she buzzed to ask if he was _sure_ he didn't want to take this phone call the answer would always be 'no, thank you.' The quality was getting to the point of disgraceful, Seto noticed, hardly caring. He added an upgrade to his mental to-do list.

"_Mr. Kaiba, the president of" —_a rush of static garbled the name; it sounded vaguely like Sony— _"is on the phone for you. He wants to—"_

"Tell him I'm busy and I'll get back to him, and make a note for me to do so as soon as I've finished with this. And stop asking if I want to take any of these calls. How long have you been working here? You should know this by now." He turned off the intercom and returned his attention to the problem on the screen.

Seto's cell phone, hidden in an inner pocket of his jacket, vibrated on full power. Seto straightened, startled, and then sighed, reaching to fish it out. He didn't check the caller I.D. before answering: only the few people who were really important to him had this number. "Hello?"

"_Kaiba, where are you?"_ Jounouchi's was probably the last voice Kaiba expected to hear. _"Did you get sick after all? Are you OK?"_

"What are you talking about? I'm at work. _You_ told me to take time off school if there was a problem, so here I am, taking time off school to deal with the problem. Now you're upset?"

"_I was worried. It's probably not an emotion you're familiar with—it requires _caring_ for another person—"_ anger, upset, and relief made his words harsh_ "—but seriously. Do you realize none of your teachers know where you are? None of your so-called friends, with the new exception of me, know where you are? _Mokuba_ couldn't get a hold of you."_

"Mokuba can always get hold of me."

"_Tell him that."_

"He knows the number to my cell. Speaking of, how did _you_ get this number, anyway?"

The pause was so long Seto checked to see if the call had disconnected—he was _not_ paying for a bad connection—but then Jou spoke. There was the barest hint of a chuckle still in his voice; Seto realized he had been holding a hand over the mouthpiece to muffle laughter. _"You're in the school directory."_

This time Kaiba paused. "Excuse me… _what_ did you say?"

"_You know… the school directory? It's like a phone book, but it only includes the numbers of the students. You must have known about it, you have to fill out a form at the beginning of the school year to even get in—"_ The line went dead with a click as Seto flipped the phone shut, returning it to his pocket. It wasn't really surprising to him that he had filled out all of the information in the great stack of beginning-of-the-year papers without bothering to look at what they were for. Filling them all out was the only way to ensure that the administration wouldn't come haring after him for them later.

Seto returned to the problem on the screen, and soon enough the entire phone call was out of mind. This deep into the database, he was reading in zeros and ones. He absently buzzed his secretary, calling for coffee, not noticing the time on the computer or the darkening windows. The room was well enough lit that he didn't really need windows anyway. His coffee came, with too much sugar and too much cream. Too engrossed in the latest bug, he didn't notice it being delivered and allowed it to go cold. His cell rang, vibrating against his thin shirt. He pulled it out and answered quickly, "Mokuba, I'm almost done, I'll be home in half an hour."

"_Glad to hear it, I'll be sure to tell him that. He was wondering. You realize it will be tomorrow in half an hour?"_

"Jounouchi, didn't I tell you I was busy?"

"_That was hours ago."_

"It—"

"_I hope you're getting paid for overtime work. Oh, wait, as the CEO you determine your own paycheck, don't you?"_

"Did you call me for a reason, or just to piss me off?"

"_I wanted to apologize, actually, for yelling—er, and laughing—at you earlier, but when I got to your house Mokuba said you weren't home yet, so I thought I'd call. You don't have to be a dick about it."_

"Listen, Jounouchi, I'm about to be done with this, and then I'll be home."

"_Will you be at school tomorrow?"_

"I was actually planning to sleep tomorrow, though I guess a classroom is as good a place as any to do that… is there some reason in particular why I should go to school tomorrow?"

"_I'm shocked. The great Seto Kaiba doesn't even know what day of the week it is. Just how big was this problem, anyway?"_

"What are you yapping about now, mutt?" Seto could practically feel Jounouchi's shoulders tense at the insult, but he somehow managed to relax.

"_Kaiba, tomorrow is a Sunday."_

Seto closed the phone and put it on his desk. He was not in a mood to be teased, especially by the mutt. He finished the problem quickly and packed up his laptop, adding a folder full of the latest at Kaiba Corp that he was supposed to have gone through on Monday. He would read them tomorrow, and if anyone asked say he was spending the day relaxing at home. Seto Kaiba did not have time to relax. He was half way out the door of his office when he heard his cell phone vibrating on the desk behind him. He frowned, but decided he might as well go back for it—it could be important, after all—but when he reached it the LCD showed an unidentified number. It was Jou, then.

Should I answer it, or should I not? Seto debated silently as the phone rotated itself on the desk. He didn't have much good nature to start with, and what there was originally had been squandered by his long stint at work. Dealing with Jou might turn out to be the icing on a cake of bad week. Seto sighed and answered the phone.

"He—" Seto was cut off.

"_You aren't home."_

"How do you know?"

"_I'm here. Are you still at work?"_

"I am on my way out the door as we speak." Seto made that true by walking around his desk. The sooner he got to his car the sooner he could hang up politely.

"_You'd better be. And heads up, I'm spending the night."_

"Excuse me? Says who?"

"_Says me."_

Seto paused. "Did you just invite yourself to spend the night at my house?"

"_Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"_

"…Maybe. Who else is there?"

"_Eh… Just Mokuba."_

Seto sighed in relief. For a moment he had worried that the entire Geek Squad was squatting. With Mokuba's support, he could handle Jou. Mokuba would say he was tired, and he needed to sleep, and needed to not be bothered. Mokuba would be a good host. If it had been all of them, it might have been bad. Mokuba would be excited. That many people might constitute a party; he would be required to participate in any juvenile games the rest of them decided would be good fun.

"_Hello? Kaiba, are you there?"_

Kaiba had forgotten that he was still on the phone. "Yes. I'm here."

"_So… can I stay?"_

Seto sighed. "I'm not going to stop you." He heard a rush of static as he said the words, and realized that Jou had been holding his breath. He wondered briefly why staying at his house would be of such concern to the blonde, but decided against pursuing that thought. "I'm about to drive, so I have to hang up now," he said.

"_Sure. See you when you get here."_

"See y—" The line went dead. Seto was surprised at how upsetting it was to know that the other boy hadn't even stayed on long enough to hear parting words.

**- -**

A/N: Okay, sappy ending. We'll all get over it. I held with my promise, so I can't apologize, as much as I'd like to: I did say that if this chapter didn't come within a day of five, it would be weeks. Hopefully, as always, the next one will come sooner. I'm definitely behind schedule—right where I predicted I'd be, but still behind schedule. We're still only half way done, and I'm supposed to finish in a month and a half? Yeah, right.

This chapter was about four hundred words longer than the last one, and it was a bit of a strain. I feel so bad, but hopefully the shorter chapters suit this story better. I remember when I wrote fanfiction for Inuyasha at Media Miner, back in junior high, my chapters came out like thirty pages each. Not Signs of Flirting.

Speaking of chapters and further development, what should Jou get Kaiba for Christmas? So far all I only have one idea, and I don't really like it, though I'll manage with it as a last resort. When you review, make a suggestion! I'm _always_ open to your input. So far I have one person who wants to see what I'll come up with—but I feel like I'll be letting you all down if I go with what I have. I'd certainly be letting myself down, so please, some suggestions?

Also, a number of you have asked about/mentioned an interest in this story from Jou's perspective. I was always planning to write it, but I've decided to wait until I finish Signs of Flirting. Rest assured that while it may be late, it is coming, I promise!

Thank you, and I will see you all next chapter.


	7. He invites you to a group outing

_**Signs of Flirting**_

**Chapter 7: **_You were invited by him to a group outing._

The room was mostly dark, despite light flowing in through open curtains. It didn't quite reach the monster bed placed at the back center of the room. What little of the room was illuminated was revealed to be in tasteful blues and creams, with ornate but sturdy wooden furniture. The sun rose: the light inched forward across the room. Eventually, the CEO's face was lit: his peaceful expression was shattered as he scrunched up his face. His eyes opened; he blinked rapidly as he sat up and allowed his expression to smooth. That suddenly, he was awake.

Seto wandered through the mansion, far more alert and awake than he had any right to be, considering how he had spent the past few days. He found himself in the kitchen, and checked the microwave clock as he bit into a cheese Danish that had been left on the island. He had slept until eleven o'clock—just less than eleven hours of sleep, if Jou had been right and he had gotten home after midnight. Seto remembered dimly that Jou had spent the night, but he didn't remember having seen the blonde.

Seto wondered idly where Mokuba was. If it weren't so cold—and overcast—he might have checked the outdoor pool. The indoor was still an option, but Seto had passed it on his way and heard nothing. Since the mutt was being out of character (by virtue of not being mid-way through stuffing his face in the kitchen), that left the game room and… not much else. Seto turned, Danish in hand, to go check, and a piece of paper by the coffee pot caught his eye. Interested, he picked it up.

'I've taken your brother hostage,' it read. 'Dress warm and meet us at the Ice Rink on 23rd street. Bring money. Jou.'

The elder Kaiba stared at the note for a moment, thinking. Jounouchi couldn't possibly have actually taken Mokuba hostage. He wasn't a good enough actor, to begin with: there was no way he could have feigned becoming friendly to Seto for so long just for the sole purpose of kidnapping. The message was clearly friendly—he had written to 'dress warm,' something someone who cared would say. But, it also said 'bring money.' Was it a hostage situation after all? He grabbed his coat, wallet, and cell phone and rushed for the door.

**- -**

"Hey, Kaiba!" Honda called from a bench facing the rink. He held a cup of steaming hot chocolate in one hand. Seto ignored him, eyes sweeping the place for Mokuba. A peal of laughter drew his eyes to the rink: he turned in time to see Anzu picking herself up off the ice, beet red. Yugi held out a hand, still smiling, and gestured around the rink. Anzu nodded, and they took off together, slowly: Yugi held her hands and skated backwards as he coached. Seto's eyes roamed towards the center of the rink: Jounouchi, unbelievably graceful on the ice, was practically dancing. Mokuba stood next to him. He asked a question that Kaiba couldn't hear, and Jou smiled and nodded, repeating a move, slower. Mokuba made an attempt to copy and fell over. Seto scowled.

Jounouchi reached down to pull Mokuba up and caught sight of Seto. His expression, excited and happy a moment before, wilted at Seto's frown. The CEO stalked over to the edge of the rink and waited.

"Kaiba!" Jou skated over and braked. "Did you just wake up? You look much better."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, last night, you were all…" Jou's sentence trailed off as the rest of the gang started crowding around.

"Kaiba, we didn't think you'd make it!" Yugi enthused. "Mokuba said you don't like to skate."

"Jou said he would invite you anyway, but the kid still didn't think you'd come." That was Otogi.

"I can't believe it. What did he say to you?" Mokuba had pushed his way through the crowd. He hugged his brother around the waist briefly, and then backed up to look at him. "I can _never_ get you to take me skating."

Kaiba only had eyes for Jou. "What did you need money for?" he asked, his voice like ice. He was _not _pleased to be here.

"Well," Jou grinned, "I figured we'd be out all day. Most people like to, like, eat and stuff." He stood there, smiling, his eyes triumphant as if he'd won. Seto had no idea what that was about, and he wasn't interested in finding out. He glared back. The stupid mutt had messed with him on his day off, all to get him to come to a stupid skating rink? This could not be happening.

Seto punched him.

Jou fell back into Honda, standing behind him. They both made odd, strangled noises as they struggled to pick themselves up off the ground. Yugi and Otogi started yelling at Kaiba; Mokuba alternated between yelling back and looking at Seto with the most confused eyes.

Seto stared at Jou for a moment, his eyes wide and full of some nameless emotion: he was furious, remorseful, petulant, violent, and as always fighting for calm. His shoulders were tense, his legs braced. Jou stared back, confused, wondering, and upset all at once. Slowly, his expression changed: he calmed and gave the tiniest of smiles. Kaiba turned and walked away. Mokuba was forgotten; Seto had more important things on his mind.

**- -**

He sat at his desk in his office at home, staring ahead of him, eyes unfocused. His laptop was in front of him, but closed and off. The sun had set more than an hour ago, but the desk light remained off. He was still wearing his heavy coat from that afternoon.

Mokuba had been in earlier, but there hadn't been much to say. Violence had seemed like the answer at the time, but looking back Seto knew it was more than the note that had bothered him. He hadn't been able to put it into words for his brother that afternoon, and now, as the hour grew later and later, he continued to struggle.

It had begun a long time ago. Months. Seto had watched Jou reach out to him, watched as Jou went from being rigidly tense and antagonized by his mere presence to being able to ignore him to slowly relaxing and finally turning to include him. Seto had watched and seen it happen, but had not watched himself as he, slowly, much slower than the blonde, began to respond.

He could see it, looking back. Times when Jou had said something which would normally start a fight, and instead Seto had paused to think it over.

"_When did you get this big stick up your butt, Kaiba?"_

"_Why are you being such a dick today? Did _I_ do something?"_

"_I was worried. It's probably not an emotion you're familiar with—it requires _caring_ for another person—"_

Times when something Jou had said or done had really made an impression.

"_I just want to know more about you. We're supposed to be friends, right?"_

The first day Mokuba stayed home sick. _Seto noticed immediately that Yugi and his group were being especially careful and polite around him today._

"_Thank you for staying with me. It meant a lot."_

Times when they had touched, and he hadn't minded.

_Jounouchi's momentum carried him forward even as his direction changed, and he crashed into Seto. So suddenly, their lips met._

_It wasn't until their arms pressed up against each other that Seto realized the blonde was sitting closer than usual. Seto was surprised but not startled, and slowly, like exhaling a long in held breath, he relaxed to lean against the other boy._

_Jou grinned, and suddenly found himself crushed into a somewhat desperate hug._

The one time he had lied because he didn't know the truth.

"_And what about me…?" "I don't hate you."_

None of it had been planned. It all just happened that way, and it never seemed _wrong_. They were just two people—Seto paused. That didn't sound right, even in his thoughts. They were just two _friends_? Is that what had happened?

It sounded righter, and though Seto was sure that 'friends' was not the perfect word to describe the relationship he had with the blonde, he wasn't at that moment willing to think any further along that line. Ignoring _that_ thought, Seto turned to one that had begun to nag: if Jou was his friend, was Yugi? Seto couldn't see himself ever being more than a casual acquaintance of Honda or Otogi. Yugi, though… the pipsqueak certainly wanted something like that, and Seto had to admit that as he had warmed to Jou specifically he had also begun to lower his more general barriers. While Yugi was still a rival, their relationship was not antagonistic. Seto mentally shook his head. They weren't friends, _yet_, but they would be. Eventually.

Seto sighed. His shoulders slumped; he looked around, realizing that the room had become too dark. As he flipped on the desk light, a knock sounded at the door, startling him ever so slightly. He composed his face.

"Mokuba? Come in."

The door opened on greased hinges and Jou poked his head in. There was a bruise forming shadow-like above his left cheekbone: the souvenir from the skating rink.

"Jou." Seto's voice was quiet and calm.

"Can I come in?" Jou asked softly. A single nod was his reply. The blonde came and sat at the edge of Seto's clutter-free desk, positioning himself towards the CEO. "Are you OK?"

"I punched you in the face and you're asking if I'm OK?"

"You missed dinner. Mokuba said he was up here earlier, but you weren't up for much talking."

"I honestly didn't know what to say."

"Do you know now?"

"What are you asking me?"

"I'm not asking anything," Jou backed off. "I'm just saying if you want to talk to someone, I'm here."

"Where's Mokuba? And what are you doing here? Didn't you sleep over last night?"

"He went to bed hours ago. He has school tomorrow."

"And you…?" Seto let the sentence trail off. He could see Jou hadn't forgotten his questions.

"I did sleep over here last night. I wasn't actually planning to sleep over tonight, but it got so late… which is why I interrupted you in whatever it was you were doing, alone in your study with no books and your computer off." He grinned. "I came to ask your permission to spend another night."

Seto took a deep breath. "It's granted." He stared at Jou's face for a minute, and then smiled ruefully. His hand reached up, and brushed lightly along the bruise. Jou shivered. "I am sorry about that."

The blonde shrugged. "It's no biggie. To be honest, I took it and was grateful. We're never seated close enough to fight in class anymore."

"The school doesn't have to bother. Yugi made me promise to stop calling you mutt and to keep my hands to myself."

Jou stared. "Seriously? Why did you agree?" His tone, almost hurt, seemed to suggest that there was something inherently _wrong_ about such a compact.

"His end of the bargain was to cut the friendship crap and leave me alone about Kaiba Corp."

Jou whistled softly to the empty room. Then he turned back. "He doesn't seem to be doing a very good job, though. You sit with us and hang out with us all the time."

"I can't blame Yugi for that. It's all Mokuba's doing."

"Is there anything you wouldn't do for that kid?"

"Is there anything you wouldn't do for Shizuka?"

"No."

Seto smiled. "No."

"Well, I'll make sure to tell Mokuba that you've been very polite to me tonight. Is it a point-based system, or what?"

"He's making me log hours."

"Seriously? Do you, like, have a chart or something?"

"I'm sure I don't want to know how he's keeping track." Seto paused. "Jou…"

"Yeah?"

"Nevermind." He looked away.

Jounouchi tapped his shoulder lightly; Seto looked up. Jou grinned, showing his canines. "Ask me."

"What makes you think it's a question?"

"If it were a statement, you would just throw it at me and let me deal with it my own way. Only a question could make you worry: how will I interpret it? What will I think of you if you ask? How could my thinking that change our relationship? What repercussions might arise if I tell the rest of my friends that you asked me that?"

"There are some statements that I might over think in the same fasion."

"No way. You know me too well. If it's too outlandish, I would keep it to myself and worry in private. And you'll already have anticipated and prepared for every manner in which our relationship might change. Statements are one-sided and if you're the one side, you hold all of the cards. But with questions, I have to respond, and you don't know what I'll come up with when you put me on the spot. So just ask already."

"Fine." He paused.

Jou waited. After a minute, he prodded. "So…"

"Do you remember the day you told us the rules to Secret Santa…?" Seto blushed and looked away. He couldn't continue.

Jounouchi's voice was confused. "Yes, I remember that day." It was his turn to pause, but he rallied, attempting to lighten the now-heavy mood. He smiled and said, "You told me you didn't hate me that day. Kaiba?" Jou's tone reflected the concern that flashed across his face. Seto refused to answer. He still couldn't complete his question. He didn't even know how to complete the thought.

"You should go to bed. School tomorrow, remember?"

"You have school, too."

"I'm ditching."

"Work again?"

"I'm planning to take a mental health day."

"Is that Kaiba code for 'yeah, work again.'?"

"I do not speak in code." He paused, and a tiny smile tugged at his lips. "Or, zero one one zero one one one zero space zero one one zero one one one one, if you prefer."

Jounouchi grinned. "I don't speak binary."

"It means 'no'."

"All of those numbers for just two letters?"

"Of course. Actual numbers took up all of the short combos."

"I see." Jou heaved a sigh, and hopped off the desk. He stretched. "Well, I guess I ought to get to bed." He walked over to the door and turned. "Night, Kaiba."

Seto stared at him for a moment, and then took the plunge. "Jou, do you remember when we were in the classroom after school that day?"

Jou blinked, and then his cheeks took on the faintest hint of rose. "Eh… yeah… I remember." He blushed darker.

Seto smiled. "Good night, Jou." It was enough, for now, to know that Jou had not blocked that particular memory. Seto wondered briefly how it might be that it bothered him so deeply that Jou might have forgotten—it wasn't like anything _happened_, happened, anyway. He sat back in his chair.

"Um, Kaiba, that was an, uh, an accident—"

"I know. Go to bed."

"That time—"

"It's OK. Good night."

"But—"

"Enough."

"Kaiba, let me speak!" Jou whisper-yelled. He didn't want to wake Mokuba.

Seto looked at him calmly. "You have my attention."

"That time was an accident."

"So you've said."

"Let me finish!" Jou stared at Seto, ascertaining whether or not he would stay quiet. "It was an accident but it wasn't bad." He paused, then added, "For me."

Seto waited for a moment. "Thank you for letting me know."

"Kaiba…" Jou took a hesitant step forward.

"Jou." Jou walked over until he was standing directly in front of the CEO. He leaned down and stared him in the face for a moment, then pressed their lips together. There was no response from the brunette, and he pulled away. "I'm not sure if I was ready for that yet…" Seto murmured.

"Whatever. Night." Jou backed out of the room, hiding the hurt on his face. They were so close…

**- -**

A/N: Woo! Longest chapter yet! It was even longer than chapter three and yet required no later additions or force to make it come this far. I considered leaving it at the punch, but decided that would be bad. I like it better this way, but I'm _really_ worried that Kaiba's too OOC. I usually get reviews that praise my being _in_ character (I'm constantly plagued by the worry that I'll completely screw up Jou's POV when I get around to it because 1. He doesn't have an in-show love interest and as the person doing the chasing I'm going to have nothing to go off of and 2. I actually have a friend who is exactly like Seto Kaiba minus the giant corporation and the multi-billion dollars and the dress sense. Since the first two are easy to fake and the third isn't relevant, I can write Seto with ease. Jou is an unknown quantity.), so I'm worried that the second part of this chapter screwed that up. On the other hand, how else can I move them forward…?

Thank you all SO much for reviewing—every one of you either mentioned my request for gift suggestions or actually gave a suggestion, with the exception of one person who reviewed chapter one. This tells me that there is a correlation between people who read author's notes and people who review. On the other hand, I'm also getting the impression that either people don't read my bio or it's too wordy (or that none of you instant message? It seems odd to me) because none of you ever instant message me T.T. As a creepy internet stalker, I am quite saddened by your lack of response. :D

The suggestions that I got were all different (though many were along the same general lines) but no one suggested the one thing I had in mind. I can't understand if this is because it isn't as cliché as I thought (unlikely, considering the fandom category that Seto X Jou automatically falls under) and you didn't think of it or if it's so cliché you thought of it and discarded it as being… too cliché. So, the results I got (you could just read the reviews yourself, but listing them seems more efficient)

**-something handmade **(most of the suggestions fell under this category, but the term 'something handmade' was actually a suggestion itself)

-Jou could cook something for Kaiba (this idea was suggested after being mentioned as 'cliché.' Now that I think of it, Jou does cook for Seto quite often in fanfiction, doesn't he?)

-a picture of the whole group, framed (also suggested was just 'a framed picture')

-a macaroni necklace (someone else said 'not a necklace,' though I have to admit I like the idea of Seto opening a box that had a macaroni necklace inside. Wouldn't his face be priceless?)

-**something mundane, that you use every day but don't notice**

-an alarm clock

-not a plushy

-**something to do with being outside**

**-something personal**

-"buttsex" (I don't think they will have progressed this far in a month (not to mention the fic is rated K+) but it's a nice idea.)

I've debated whether or not to tell you my original idea—after all, is it better to spoil it or to leave it to you to decide?—and since I _haven't_ decided, and I also don't really care what the outcome is—I already know how the story will go, and in answer to Miss Duo's question the reaction I'm looking for is "wow, that's exactly what I always wanted!"—I should just tell you. This is the first time I've ever included the fans input in a fic (except for one case, where I allowed my friends to come up with characters for themselves and I wrote an adventure story with all of us in it) and I feel like it's not a bad idea. After all, I can always decide to scrap your decision and go with what I want anyway, right? :D I was thinking a puppy.

So tell me what you think! I'm ready and waiting! (And super excited to have another chapter up so soon!! Eeeee!!) Try to remember that we have a $50 dollar limit.


	8. Casual Conversation

_**Signs of Flirting**_

**Chapter 8: **_He remembers little things you mention in casual conversation._

Kaiba woke up suddenly, as usual. He checked the clock near his bed, as usual. He did a double take and scrambled to get out of bed, managing only to trip over his sheets and fall on the floor. Not usual. He took a deep breath and relaxed, remembering that he hadn't been planning to go to school today. Remembering that he had been up until four in the morning, and that it therefore was _not_ outrageous to have slept in until ten. Six hours of sleep may not be _usual_, but it was _good_.

He untangled himself and stood, then stretched. He wandered down to the kitchen and was startled to smell something cooking—it was the cook's day off, and Mokuba should have been at school hours ago. Rounding a corner, he was shocked for the second time that morning.

Jou smiled at him and flipped an omelet onto a plate. Seto blinked at him.

"I thought about what you said last night," Jou said, "sit down." He nodded to a chair and Seto sank into it, staring. Jou fished a fork out of a cabinet and handed it, along with the plate, to Kaiba. "I've decided that you're right."

Seto turned his attention to the egg mixture before him. It was perfect: light and fluffy, with just a hint of light brown crispiness. He stared at it, debating cutting it open to find out what filling it had. "About what?"

"Everything."

Seto looked up to stare at the blonde. He wasn't really sure what that meant. Reviewing what he remembered from their conversation the previous night, he didn't think he had actually _said_ very much to the other boy. In fact, he had said very little at all. "I'm not sure I follow," he murmured quietly.

"Well, it's no use arguing with you. You're always right."

"I already knew that."

"Of course you did. And last night you were right when you said you weren't ready. Trust you to know." He smiled.

Kaiba frowned. "I—"

"Stop interrupting me." He paused and waited to make sure the CEO would stay quiet, and when, after a moment, the brunette opened his mouth, Jou immediately said, "I want you to know that even though you're not ready for me, I'm ready for you. I'm waiting."

Seto's face was perfectly blank. "Thank you for letting me know."

"You already knew," Jou accused.

A smirk tugged at one edge of the CEO's lips. "What makes you think that?"

"You said that last night when I told you I hadn't minded—that time." He blushed furiously, then rallied. "You already knew that, too."

"Of course. I know everything, remember? _You_ said that." Jou glared, and Kaiba 'harrumphed in return. "You're easy enough to read. What else could it have meant, last night? First the accident 'wasn't bad' and then you were taking pains to repeat it—"

"Shut up, moneybags. You don't have to rub it in my face that you're so much smarter than everyone else."

"The point isn't that I'm smart but rather that you're not."

"Being unable to hide the emotions on my face doesn't make me dumb, it just makes me human. Unlike some people I know."

"Say that again, m—" Kaiba's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he managed to school his face back to perfect calm. He stood suddenly. "I have things to do."

"Sit down and eat your omelet. Although I'd prefer you didn't, you can call me mutt if you want to."

Seto blinked. "You can punch me back as payback for yesterday if you want to. Although… I would prefer you didn't." He smiled the tiniest of smiles and Jou laughed. Seto's expression suddenly turned serious. "This kind of behavior will have to remain private, of course," he monotoned. Jou's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What if Yugi saw me breaking my end of the bargain?" His eyes told Jou he was joking, but the blonde was suddenly tense.

"Oh yeah… that reminds me, Yugi called."

"About…"

"About your skill on the ice," Jou said, straight-faced. "He was so shocked to hear me answer the phone that he forgot to tell me to tell you that you're in for it when you get your butt back to school."

"What kind of incentive to be a good student is that? Not that fear of being attacked by a midget is likely to keep me from going to school."

"Be nice. Yug' is my best friend."

"All the more incentive for me to hate him."

"That's right. You could say it was because of Yugi that we even got to know one another. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but high society is not generally included in my social circle."

"I don't know how well child billionaire prodigies fit in as 'high society,'" Seto drawled. "But as it happens, I _had_ noticed. And while your short friend had some to do with it, you might recall that I actually noticed you for the game you were playing, and not the ridiculousness of the people you were hanging out with, on my first day at school with you."

"That's right. Wasn't your hair green back then? And how come you never wore the right uniform?" *

"…Shut up."

They spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen, Kaiba eating his omelet around the friendly conversation. They _were_ friends, he decided. In an odd sort of way. And in an odd sort of way, he could kind of see where he might begin to really like a guy like Jounouchi. He mentally shook his head. Even if he could think about that from a distant mental viewpoint, acknowledging it out loud would reciprocate consequences, and he still knew he wasn't ready. Yet.

"Jounouchi, weren't you supposed to go to school today?"

"Eh… yeah. But you didn't go."

"But I do that habitually. You're expected to go to school. What will Yugi think?"

"Well, as I—hopefully—won't be sporting any new bruises, he'll just have to assume the best."

"That I hit you where the bruises wouldn't show?"

"That we didn't fight?"

"You shouldn't skip school."

"Thank you, Captain Hypocrite. And who would have fed you if I hadn't stuck around?"

"I am perfectly capable of feeding myself." _Just not as capable as you_. "Who taught you to cook, anyway?"

"Eh? I learned when I was a kid, living with Mom and Shizuka. And I keep it up now that I only live with my dad. He sure doesn't know how to cook. Why, did you like it?"

Seto reflected on the question and the possible answers he could give. Jounouchi had seen him eat and it was clear that he, Seto, had enjoyed the food. Therefore, the blonde was looking for praise. While Seto had a ready-made answer that he would normally use in a situation like this, Jounouchi might know him too well. And he apparently had a very good memory of who said what to whom when. Seto thought through all of that and then decided it didn't really matter what Jou heard in the answer. It couldn't be too much. Straight-faced, he delivered the line, "I didn't hate it."

His honesty rewarded him when Jounouchi's face lit up.

**- -**

"What's everyone planning to do for Christmas?" Seto asked. He and Jou had relocated to the den/living room area—a more private, messy, lived-in sort of space that the Kaiba brothers generally didn't show off at the kinds of stuffy upscale parties that they were apparently expected to throw every now and again. They were currently sprawled out over a pair of couches angled to view the television and each other. The TV was not on.

"Well, aside from getting together for Secret Santa's… it's kind of a quiet holiday, isn't it? Couples and all of that? We'll probably meet up, exchange gifts, and then wander off in our own separate ways or something…" He took a large spoonful from a carton of ice cream that was sitting between them and began to lick at it.

"We're meeting _on Christmas_?" Seto eyed the pint of Haagen-Dazs and wondered briefly if he should have brought a quart instead. It usually took him and Mokuba a few days to finish one, but he had just opened this one today and Jou had already almost finished it.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that the point?" He finished his spoonful and debated taking another.

"I guess. I always thought Christmas was kind of private. I guess I figured we'd be exchanging on the Eve, or the last day of school before the holiday." He shrugged inwardly and reached for the carton to take a spoonful for himself. His hand knocked against Jou's—apparently they had been like-minded.

"Oh, do you and Mokuba usually chill out and spend the day together, just relaxing and all?" Jou asked, pulling back. He gestured silently for his host to go ahead, and then followed suit.

"I think Mokuba usually spends most of his days chilling out and relaxing. And yes, we usually do spend the day alone together, but that isn't how it has to be."

"Mr. Kaiba, what are you proposing?" Jou raised one eyebrow and Seto almost snorted his laughter. Almost.

"Well… if you think people would come… if they're not busy with other things… we could have a party."

"Here?" Jou forgot his ice cream.

"No, at school. Yes, here. Look out, you're about to drip."

Jou grinned and lapped at the melting ice cream. "Thanks. Wouldn't want to get any white sticky stuff all over your couch." His smile was devilish.

"Ha ha," Seto deadpanned. "How funny."

"Here I thought I'd be more worried about my table manners, eating in a billionaire's house, but now that I'm doing it I figure, 'hey, if I spill, he can afford to get his couch re-upholstered.' Right?" He grinned.

"It wouldn't be the first time. Gosh darn white sticky stuff." His face was straight when he said it and Jou had trouble deciding if he was joking or not. If not… that was exciting.

"So, are you serious about a party here?"

"Why not? It isn't like there's anything better to do. Christmas is only a few weeks away. Would it be better to do it on Christmas Eve and open it up for people to spend the night as they choose or should we just limit the damage to Christmas Day itself?"

"I think you should do the first one."

"You think people will stay?"

"Why wouldn't they? You live in a friggin' mansion, in case you hadn't noticed. Not many would pass up a chance to spend the night in this pad." Jou yawned, then stood and stretched. He plopped down on Seto's couch.

"What time is it?" Seto asked rhetorically. He was wearing a watch. "Not even three." He moved his legs out of the way for the blonde to sit.

"There aren't any pillows on either of these couches. And isn't Mokuba about to get out of school?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So, shouldn't you be, I dunno, like going to pick him up or something? Move your leg." The offending appendage was apparently too centered—Seto had changed position when Jou had come to sit with him so that he was sitting up, wit one leg dangling off the edge of the couch and the other bent at the knee, foot pointed toward the blonde.

"He _has_ a limo and driver. He doesn't need me to go get him too. Where?"

"Here." He pushed the leg over to the back of the couch, and Seto pulled his other leg up so that they were in identical positions. "You left your limo with your pre-teen brother?"

"So?" Jou turned to lean back against the CEO's chest, between his legs.

"Do you mind?" he asked, half turning to see the brunette's face.

Seto looked at him for a moment. For a boy who had been told that kissing was off limits the night before, he was certainly forward. "No," he said. Oddly enough, he didn't. Seto wondered if he would mind being kissed right now. For some reason, he rather thought not.

"You're not worried about him getting into the booze or anything?"

After all, they had been eating ice cream straight from the container, and both of them had licked their spoons and gone back for more. As far as germs went, he was past any worries.

"What?" Distracted, he had forgotten what their conversation had been about. Of course, ice cream was much colder than kissing. His experience was limited, but since humans had generally been found to be warm-blooded creatures—and he was fairly certain Jou wasn't an alien or a reptile—kisses couldn't possibly be cold. Unless you were freezing when you did it.

"In the limo."

What was in the limo? Oh. Alcohol. Right. "I'd rather he get drunk in the limo than on the street. Wouldn't you, if it was Shizuka?"

"I guess," Jou said, turning to face away again. He leaned back.

Seto shrugged. "It isn't a problem. Mokuba doesn't drink." Jou's hair was tickling his nose and he didn't care. It was warm.

"He's a good kid," Jou said. The door crashed open. He started to sit up—he was pretty much lying on top of the CEO—but Kaiba reached an arm over his shoulder and held him in place.

"You're warm," he whispered. Jou shivered and goose bumps ran down his arms.

"Seto?" a voice called.

Seto managed to cover Jou's ear before he shouted in it. "We're in the den!" he called, moving to stand as he said it. He relocated to the other couch and turned to face the door.

"_We_? Oh," Mokuba mumbled, bursting in. "Hey, Jou. What happened to school?"

"We took a mental health day," Jou replied, smiling.

"Yeah," the younger Kaiba muttered, glancing at the now-empty pint of ice cream and the twin spoons, "or a 'relationship day'" he added under his breath. "You two have fun. I've got homework. And get a blanket or something, it's cold in here." He dashed out of the room.

Jounouchi stared after him for a moment, dazed at the boy's whirlwind exit, as Seto came and resumed his old position. "Homework, crap!" Jou tried to sit up, not noticing the older Kaiba's restraining arm. "Kaiba, lemme go," he yelled.

"No." His cell phone, in a pant's pocket because he wasn't wearing his jacket, chose that moment to vibrate. Jou squirmed.

"Kaiba, that had better be your phone," he growled.

"Shut up, mutt," the CEO grumbled, sitting them up and sliding the blonde off of his lap. He shivered in the sudden chill. As Mokuba had noted, the heater wasn't on, and it was December already. Brr.

"What," he growled into the phone. Jou took the moment to rescue his own phone and dial Yugi's number to ask for the homework.

"_Kaiba, what the hell did you do with Jou?"_ Jou snapped his phone shut and swore at the busy signal.

"What are you talking about? He's here," Seto replied.

Jou looked up. There were only two other 'he's in the house that he knew of, and he was one of them.

"_Where the hell is here? Neither of you were in school today, and when I called your house this morning he picked up your phone. What is going on?!"_

"We took the day off. We're at the Kaiba Mansion."

"_You're supposed to go to work when you skip school," _Yugi growled.

"Is it Yugi?" Jou asked. "Can I talk to him?"

"I didn't _ask_ him to take the day off with me," Seto yelled into the phone. He ignored Jou.

"Kaiba," Jou said.

"_Kaiba,"_ Yugi said. _"Jou is a good student. You can't start encouraging him to ditch with you, no matter how much you like each other."_

"I _didn't_ ask him to ditch with me, and _what do you know_ about how much we _like_ each other?!" If Seto Kaiba had been the type to sport massive veins on his forehead, one of them would have been ready to pop right now. As it was, massive forehead veins were not fashionable, and thus he had none. He was, however, dangerously angry.

"Seto, give me the phone!" Jou said.

"_I don't know anything,"_ Yugi backtracked. _"Is that Jou? Can I talk to him?"_ Seto shoved the phone in the blonde's face.

"Yug'! I need the homework from today," Jou said. Seto fumed silently on the other side of the couch.

"_Yeah, I have it for you. You promise you're not sick or in the hospital or anything?"_

"What? No, of course I'm fine. I'll be at school tomorrow."

"_How's your cheek feel?"_

"It doesn't hurt at all. The bruise is already fading. Do you want to bring it to me here?"

"_How mad is Kaiba?"_

"Why would he be mad?" Jou cocked his head to the side as if Yugi could see him. He glanced at Kaiba, who was still exuding major anger vibes. "He looks ready to kill someone. What did you say to him?"

"_I—nothing. I'll be there in like twenty minutes. We can walk home together."_

"Walk home…? But I'm—"

Seto grabbed the phone out of his hand. "He'll meet you at the door, thanks," and snapped the phone shut, glaring at it.

Jou stared at him wide eyed for a moment before reaching out to touch his shoulder. The CEO's gaze snapped to him and a trace amount of tension left his shoulders. "What was that about? What did he say to you?" Jou asked, his voice uncertain.

Seto took a deep breath. If Jou had—it was still a problem to think about this, but getting easier—had _feelings_, of any sort, for him, it was understandable that he would have talked about them with his best friend. Just because Yugi knew about Jou before he did was no reason to go kill someone.

**- -**

* In Season 0, 'Kaiba Seto' is shown with green hair and a white uniform, while his schoolmates wear blue. In Season 1 (the first season released in the U.S., produced by a different company than Season 0) his uniform changes to blue and his hair turns brown. Oddly, 4 Kids saw no reason to make Yugi's hair more realistically colored.

Anyway, I haven't watched Season 0 in a long time, and then it was only once, but I'm fairly certain I vaguely remember a green-haired Kaiba luring the Yugi-tachi to his mansion to show off all of his super special awesome merch. I _believe_ he was interested in making friends, and only 'turned' when Yugi beat him at some game, thus evoking his need for revenge. Or maybe mind-crushed him. But, like I said, I haven't seen it in a while. If I weren't so busy writing this fic I might stop and watch it again but… :D Well, you know how it goes.

**- -**

A/N: OK, so I was in the middle of my Authors notes (I had written like two sentences, which I just deleted) and I was like, "Man, it's really short." So then I was checking to see what the next chapters were gonna be and I was like, "Wow, that's gonna be intense, how will I manage that without bumping up my rating?" And then BAM, an idea struck me upside the head. If it hadn't, I'd have left off back at Kaiba not hating that omelet. As it is, this chapter is the longest yet! I likes this trend.

Okay, guys, I'm trying hard not to outright ask you for reviews because, as I keep telling myself (if I say it enough, will it be true?) I'm _not_ writing for an ego boost. That's why I chose not to write anything that my best friend might read. She would read it, and praise me, and bug me, and I don't want it. But, seriously, it is _so nice_ to get e-mails from and _so nice_ when those are e-mails about reviews or PMs. To be honest, the sheer number of people who have added me to their favorites or alerts lists is staggering. But, c'mon, seriously. Those reviews, man. Please. :D

And, OK, so this is going to give away my general location which is, in my book, generally a big no-no on the internet, but //deep breath// the Dir en Grey concert last night was SOOO AWESOME!! ^_^ Squee. Really short compared to the last one I went to, but still REALLY AWESOME!!

I'm going to post the last chapter of this fic on Christmas (I haven't written it yet, but that's the plan, anyway. Or Christmas Eve). It's going to stay K+ rated. If I think I can do it, I'll add an M sequel in one-shot form. However, at the rate I'm going (and by the fact that I only have two chapters left, including that last one) I'm probably going have it done long before Christmas. Which means… Playing for Keeps, Jou's version of SOF (does anyone else see 'SOF' and think 'Special Other Forces'? High five if you do.) will be starting that much sooner. Umm, I'm really not sure about that title, so along with presents for Seto (which I still want! $50 price limit) you should start coming up with titles. Please.

And remember, if you like the story and you want it to come out faster, **review**ing helps!!


	9. He looks deep into your eyes

_**Signs of Flirting**_

**- -**

A/N: Due to some reviews about some plot holes in the last chapter, it's been updated and (hopefully) fixed. Enjoy.

**- -**

**Chapter 9: **_He sometimes stares straight into your eyes._

"Mokuba, what do you want for Christmas?"

"An iPhone."

"And…?"

"And go look at my Amazon wish list, I'm busy."

Seto glanced up from his keyboard at the TV screen where his younger brother was playing furiously. There was the awful sound of someone regurgitating and the screen was covered in green goop. "Mokuba, how many times have you played that game?"

"Several."

Seto sighed, and the boys lapsed into relative silence for a few minutes: the only sounds were caused by Mokuba's current video game (snarls, wails, and Mokuba furiously pounding on the keys led his older brother to figure something wasn't going well) and Seto typing on his keyboard.

"YES!" Seto sat up a little straighter at his brother's outburst. He looked at the boy and arched an eyebrow when Mokuba turned to face him. "I got Zombie Genocidest!"

Seto blinked. "Congratulations?"

Mokuba stared at him. "I killed almost fifty-three thousand six hundred zombies and all you can say is congratulations?"

Seto rolled his eyes. "How do you feel about Christmas parties?"

"Way to change the subject."

"Answer the question."

"I don't know. I don't have much experience with 'em. I guess they can be nice. It depends on who you invite." He turned his attention back to the TV screen, but Seto persisted.

"Who would you want to invite?"

"I dunno… my friends. Your friends."

"Do you want to?"

"Want to what?"

"Want to invite our friends over for a Christmas party?"

Mokuba paused his new game and turned to look at his brother. "Do _you_ want to have a Christmas party, Seto?"

"I don't want to do anything you don't want to do."

"You want to invite Jou."

Seto tried not to blush and succeeded. "I didn't say that."

"No, I did. You like him, huh? Have you kissed?"

"Yes."

"YES?! When? Where? Was it good? Why didn't you tell me? Are you guys going out? Is that why he stayed home with you yesterday?"

"One at a time. Weeks ago, and then again the night before last. In our classroom at school—don't look at me like that, it wasn't on purpose—and then here in my study. I don't know if it was good or not, I don't really have that much experience in the area. I didn't tell you because I didn't think anything of it because no we are not going out and I honestly have no idea why he stayed here yesterday."

"Do you know if he likes you?"

"Yes."

"And…?"

"And what?"

"Does he or doesn't he?"

"He does."

"So why aren't you going out?"

"I don't know."

"But you like him. And he likes you. So what's the problem?"

"I'm not ready to rush into a relationship, Mokuba."

"Who's rushing? You've already kissed, twice, and you're not dating yet? Besides, even though I'm pretty sure I'm the only one you would ever have this kind of conversation with, it's common knowledge that you like him best of all of the Yugi-tachi."

Seto glared. "Common knowledge to whom?!"

"To everyone. Oh, come on, don't glare at me. You give him rides to school and home from the mall, you always sit next to him—"

"Because he used to have this creepy habit of staring at me unless I was right next to him!"

"But he doesn't anymore and you still sit next to him. You let him spend the night—multiple nights in a row—without saying anything. Yugi never spends the night. You're nice to him."

"Because Yugi made me promise. And I still call him mutt when the midget isn't around."

"He doesn't tell on you?"

"He told me yesterday that he didn't mind."

"You must have been flabbergasted."

"No. I replied that I wouldn't mind if he punched me in the face."

"Seriously?" Mokuba glanced away, and then back. "I did not see that co—holy cow, is it really that late? We have to go!"

"Go."

"To school! We'll be late! Are you coming?" he yelled as he jumped off the couch and dashed to his room to grab his school stuff. Seto followed more sedately and beat him to the foyer, pulling on his shoes before Mokuba made it—the result of a difference in organizational skill. Mokuba's stuff had been strewn about his room, while Seto's, neatly placed in his schoolbag the night before, merely needed to be picked up.

Mokuba leaned down to snatch up his shoes and threw the door open, intending to put them on in the car. He was across the front porch before he skidded to a halt in his socks, staring at their front lawn.

It was covered with a thick sheet of cold whiteness.

"It snowed," Mokuba breathed.

"Pull on your shoes and let's go. The walkway is clear, and hopefully the roads have been salted. Move."

As it turned out, they did both make it to school on time, though only barely. Mokuba spent the entire car ride exclaiming over the weather, completely forgetting their previous conversation.

**- -**

"Hey." Seto glanced up from his desk into amethyst eyes.

"Hello."

"Are you coming with us? For lunch, I mean." Yugi fidgeted as Seto stared at him.

"Aren't you mad at me?"

Yugi winced. "Ah… so Jou told you I kind of flipped out on the phone." Seto stared at him with a level gaze for a moment before dropping his attention back to the book on his desk. "Then again," Yugi continued, "you kind of flipped out at me on the phone, and since Jou's here today and he's not hurt or anything… maybe we'll just call it even."

"It's nice to know how quickly you forget your anger. It almost makes me wonder why you bother getting worked up in the first place." Seto arched an eyebrow, but the effect was odd considering he hadn't actually looked up.

"Are you coming to lunch or not?"

"Not." Seto looked up and watched the small back dodge desks as it moved through the classroom, then put the book in his desk and slid his laptop out of his bag. Instead of the usual Kaiba Corp work, today's job entailed going though the proposed guest list that Mokuba had e-mailed to him earlier that day and editing it so that the number of people might actually fit into their house. Mokuba had listed his would-be guests by name, age, and ranked them on how much he wanted them to come. Out of five stars, no one had less than three, and it looked like the younger Kaiba intended to invite his entire school. Seto sighed and got to work.

"Oi, Kaiba." The brunette glanced up to see Jounouchi's face frowning down at him. "What are you doing?"

"Not working, clearly," came the dry reply. The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"I didn't bring a lunch."

"Buy something at the cafeteria. It isn't healthy to skip meals, Kaiba."

"I'll eat when I get home."

"What, at eleven thirty? Midnight? Yeah right. Come on." He leaned in and grabbed the brunette's arm, pulling on him lightly. Their eyes locked, and Seto's widened slightly, though he firmly refused to leave his seat.

"I'm getting the strangest sense of déjà vu," he murmured.

They stared at each other. Seto sat up straighter and Jou leaned in, his eyes misting over. Seto's eyebrows twitched together and apart in mild startled confusion. A door slammed. Jou blinked, and his eyes cleared. The moment was over.

Jou shook his head vigorously as if he could clear the blush off of his face like an etch-a-sketch. "The last time we were in this situation you were pulling on me," Jou said curtly. "Come _on_." He tugged again.

"Fine," Seto stood up quickly and Jou stumbled back, "but just to spite you, I'm not going to eat anything." They frowned at each other for a moment before Kaiba turned to stalk out of the room.

**- -**

"So that's where you ran off to, Jou!" Yugi beamed as Seto and Jounouchi took their seats at the table. They had been forced inside for lunch by the snow, and were sitting at a picnic bench style table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"If Kaiba Corp is in the red at the end of the year, I'll know who to blame," Seto muttered unhappily.

"You work too much," Honda said around a bite of sandwich. He swallowed and added, "and you didn't have to come."

Seto glanced at Jou and then back. "Consider me coerced. And I wasn't really working, anyway."

"I didn't know you had games on your laptop! Can I play, too?" Ryou asked.

The table blinked at him for a moment. "No, I was actually working on a guest list for a Christmas Eve party I'm throwing at Kaiba Mansion. You're all invited."

"Wow, a Christmas party at the Kaiba Mansion. How many people are coming?"

Seto frowned. "Mokuba is trying to invite his entire school and everyone who's ever worked for me, regardless of their current state of employment," he replied. "My goal is to get the guest list down to fifty-five people."

"_Limit_ it to fifty-five?!" Anzu boggled. "I'd probably be hard pressed to come up with that many people by myself. Are they all friends of you and Mokuba?"

"No."

"Then why invite them? It's not like it's a corporate party, right? You don't have to impress anyone. Just invite the people you like," she continued.

"The people I like. Like."

"Don't be a douche, they have to exist. There's at least one sitting at this table, and I can name another off the top of my head," Yugi cut in. Seto glared at him and he smiled in return. The CEO had the distinct impression that he was losing his touch.

"So when's this party start, anyway," Honda asked, deflecting the CEO's glare from his short friend.

"I hadn't really decided, but is five-thirty a good time?"

There was a general chorus of agreement from the teens seated around the table, and the conversation turned towards light discussion of the upcoming holidays, gift giving, plans, and the weather.

"Honda, are you coming with us to the skating rink again the Saturday after Christmas?"

"Nah, I'm gonna be out of town then. Maybe Kaiba wants to go instead?" he asked evilly.

"Sure. We all saw what a good idea that was the last time we tried it, right? Which reminds me, Jou, if you ever tell me you've kidnapped my brother again I'm going to castrate you."

"Er, right, I'll remember that," Jou muttered. He snagged a potato chip from a bag in front of Honda and the two commenced a brief tussle. Jou won and ate his chip triumphantly, his friends laughing around him.

The intercom buzzed with static and a hush fell over the cafeteria as the voice of the principal called "_Attention, students and staff. May I have your attention, please?_" The call was repeated once, and then the principal continued. "_As some of you may have noticed, we are currently facing increasingly heavy snows. As our local weather department informs us that this may lead to blizzard conditions, I would like to send you all home before we get snowed in. Please contact your parent or guardian immediately to secure a ride home and inform your homeroom teacher when you're leaving. Students who take public transportation are free to leave after checking out with their homeroom teachers. Remember to dress warm, and call the school tomorrow before coming to find out if we'll be here._" The intercom buzzed and turned off beneath the sounds of the general student populace dissolving into exuberant chaos.

Anzu looked worried. "Um, aren't we starting finals tomorrow?" she asked. The only person who heard her, by virtue of being the only person near enough who wasn't cheering, was Seto.

"Finals will be rescheduled. Hopefully they won't cut into our break." Anzu looked only slightly less upset, but she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her mother's number.

"Anzu, Anzu," Yugi yelled at her from less than two feet away. "Anzu, can your mom give me a ride home too? She's listed on my emergency contacts list. Gramps doesn't have a car," he explained.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Crap, I ride here on my bike, how am I supposed to get home?"

"Go get it before it gets covered in snow? At least you don't have to walk—!"

"Jou, my mom can give you a ride, too—"

"Don't be ridiculous, we live on opposite sides of town—"

"Pull Mokuba out of school and come get me immediately—"

"Ryou! Ryou, how are you getting home—?"

"I take public transit—"

"I'll take you home—"

"Otogi—"

"Jou!"

"Kaiba?"

"I'll take you home—"

"Otogi, I don't need—"

"Kaiba, I can walk—"

"No you can't—"

"Jou! Jou, we're leaving—"

"See you tomorrow—"

"Yug'—"

"Jou, let Kaiba give you a ride, you live too far away to—"

The lights flickered and went out. People screamed.

"Jou—!"

Seto grabbed the blonde's arm and yanked, pulling him off balance. "Sensei, we're going home!"

"Kaiba, who is we?"

"I've got Jou—"

"Go!"

"Sensei—!"

Kaiba and Jou ran out of the crowded, chaotic, dark cafeteria. The hallways were lit only dimly by what sunshine could filter through the cloud cover, snow, and glass windows. Seto threw the front doors open and pulled Jou after him through the crowd, shivering as they made their way to the limo. Seto didn't even wait for the driver, pulling the door open himself and throwing the blonde in in front of him and sliding in after.

"Drive," was the curt order, and as the limo pulled away from the curb Seto raised the window that separated the cab from the passengers.

"Where's Mokuba?" Jou asked, looking around.

"He's already home. Where am I taking you?"

Jou hurried out the address and Seto stared at him when he finished. "You walk to school from there every day?"

"I take the bus some days," he mumbled.

"Would it be okay with you if we just went to the mansion instead? I'm sure you'd be more comfortable in your own home with your father but the mansion is closer and we have room for you. Though your father might suspect me of kidnapping you, as this will be the third night of four."

"No, it's fine. I went home last night, remember? Can I borrow your phone to call home, though?"

Jou called the house and left a message, then his dad's cell, which was either out of battery or out of range of the service area, and finally reached him at his work number.

The boys sat together in silence for a moment after Jou returned the phone, Seto calm and poised, Jou slumped and brooding. After a moment, Seto turned and lifted an eyebrow in the blonde's direction.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"What?" Jou glanced up at the brunette. "Sure, I'm fine. Why, do I look sick or somethin'?"

"Perhaps only slightly melancholy."

Jou turned back to look out the window. At this point, flurrying white was all that could really be distinguished. "I'm fine."

"Worried about someone?"

Jou glanced over. "Maybe."

Kaiba nodded. "It's none of my business, of course," he murmured.

"I was thinking about you."

"Hm?"

"You put a lot of effort into being unapproachable, don't you?"

The CEO's lips tugged up at one corner. "Maybe."

"I was just wondering how many people would stop bugging you if you stopped trying so hard."

"Too many to count, I'm sure."

"You're nice to Mokuba, though."

"Mokuba is family."

"You're nice to me. I certainly hope we aren't related." There was a lot of meaning in that statement.

"We aren't."

"Oh, did you have my family background looked into?"

"Not in the way you mean."

Jou paused and looked at Kaiba oddly. "In what way…?"

"You know I spent time with Mokuba at an orphanage?"

"Of course…"

"The federal government puts a lot of effort into relocating the families of the children in those situations. If I had other relatives, they would have been found. Since you weren't, you aren't family."

"Oh."

A silence stretched between them for a moment, but it was comfortable. The heater was on full blast, and Seto was beginning to feel drowsy. He probably shouldn't have stayed up so late working.

"Hey."

Seto opened eyes that had unconsciously begun to droop closed. Startled to realize that he had been about to sleep in front of the mutt, he fixed his slumped posture and turned to look at the blonde.

He couldn't look away.

They stared at each other for a moment, unblinking, unworried, calm. Somehow the space between them was getting smaller.

"So you never told me why you like me…" Jou whispered.

"It's not likely that I ever will," came the soft reply.

"Do you… do you like liking me?"

"…I don't hate it."

And then there wasn't any distance between them anymore. Their lips moved in synchronization, warm, soft, slightly chapped from the recent weather. It wasn't an accident and it wasn't one sided and, Seto found himself thinking, it wasn't bad.

But it was really hot. Literally.

When they started they had been sitting, but it was difficult to keep their heads turned at that angle and they had moved up onto the seats and were pressed against each other and the heat was still on and they were still wearing their winter clothes and suddenly Jou took his jacket off and started working on Seto's. And Seto had worked his fingers up under Jou's shirt and his fingers weren't warm and Jou was twitching and squirming as Seto ran his fingers over his chest, up his sides, around his back.

Seto could vaguely sense that Jou was trying to switch them so that it would be the CEO trapped between a body and some really nice upholstery, but he wasn't having any of that.

Seto turned his face to the side for a chance to breathe but Jou kept right on, kissing his jawbone, his cheek, his neck. He ran a tongue lightly over the pulse point and then kissed it again, and Seto turned his face back and now they were fighting with their tongues instead of their fists.

Jou had just begun to run his fingers along Seto's underwear line when the car stopped and the engine turned off. The boys froze and listened to the sound of the driver door opening, a boot crunching on gravel and snow, and the door slamming. They sprang apart and were pulling on their jackets as the chauffer opened the door to bid them out. The young CEO barely had the presence of mind not to blush in front of his employee.

"Come _on_," he growled as Jou fumbled his jacket zipper. He grabbed the blonde by his arm and towed him into the house, but they didn't get past the foyer before Jou collapsed against a wall, laughing. Kaiba did his best not to smile.

"D'you think he knew?" Jou asked when he caught his breath.

"I honestly don't care," Seto muttered.

"Hey," Jou stared at the CEO from where he sat slumped against the wall, "do you wanna do that again?"

"Not in the limo."

Jou grinned. "So, does this mean you're ready?"

"Ready."

"For me! Remember? The night before last you told me you weren't ready for me to kiss you on purpose yet, and then yesterday I told you that it was okay but that I was ready for you. So are you ready now?"

"Just… just give me a minute," Seto said.

"Think fast, before Mokuba finds us," Jou cautioned.

"Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm ready."

"No you aren't."

Seto stared at Jou. "Excuse me?"

"Let's wait to tell everybody until Christmas, okay? Mokuba can know but everyone else…"

Seto blinked. "Oh." He paused, then, "you really _do_ pay a lot of attention to me."

Jou grinned.

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled as he crashed into his brother. "You brought Jou home with you. Is everything okay? Is he snowed out of his apartment? You can stay with us as long as you want, Jou, really it's fine. Are you guys really okay? You should change out of your wet clothes, I already did, I'm sure Seto has something that will fit you, Jou—"

"Mokuba."

"And we can always—"

"Mokuba," Seto said.

"—And you can have the room across from mine—"

"Mokuba, Jou and I have decided to date."

"And—you what?" The hyperactive boy paused and blinked.

"We thought you should know," his brother deadpanned. "But it isn't the sort of thing you should go telling people about."

Mokuba recovered from his shock quickly. "Awesome!" he grinned. "Jou can still have the room across from mine, unless you're planning to share…?"

"No, that's fine. Why are you assigning him a room already?"

"It was on the news just now that we've reached blizzard conditions and there's supposed to be a couple of feet by tomorrow. We might be snowed in for days."

**- -**

A/N: To all of you who were expecting this chapter a week and a half ago, I'm so sorry! Finals caught me by surprise, I spent the week studying and freaking out. This chapter took me three days to write and (crap) the next chapter is still scheduled for tomorrow. I hope I'll make it. Can you believe that this chapter is thirteen pages long? In Times New Roman font size 12 on a Word document. It beats my second longest by four pages but only five hundred words (because this chapter is mostly dialogue).

So… did you like my attempt at a mild lime? Does it even count? I hope you're appreciative because I checked the ratings list and I had to bump my story up to M for this.

Wow, Seto's character was totally shot to hell in this chapter. Oh well… he had to grow up sometime. At least I got Mokuba right. He's playing _Left 4 Dead_ at the beginning, by the way. If you were wondering. The green goop means he got barfed on. I've never played _Left 4 Dead_, in case you were wondering, but I have several friends who are kind enough to let me observe them as they play (I'm not really good enough at video games to play them).

I'm still interested in a story name for Jou's perspective. I haven't got any suggestions yet. Maybe it's a sign that no one wants to read that story…?

In the words of one of my favorites… "Can't ask, won't beg, but reviews are nice."


	10. He uses every possible way to touch you

**Chapter 10: **_He uses every possible way to touch you (your hair, face, thighs, etc.)_

"Hey, Kaiba, great party!"

Variations of this remark had been made several times in the past half hour, and Seto wasn't sure if he should be proud of himself or annoyed at the repetitiveness of it all. He was leaning towards annoyed, though Mokuba, clad in a bright red and white faux-fur-lined Santa hat, was doing his best to move the guests past his brother and into the house proper as quickly as possible.

In truth, it was a nice party.

The Kaiba Mansion could never be made up like a gingerbread house with multicolored lights lining the eaves like gumdrops and giant candy canes in the front yard—it was just too big, those kinds of decorations would end up looking ridiculous. Instead, Seto (or, Seto's employees, rather) had stuck to the white lights, lining the eaves with the big ones and threading the smaller ones through the shrubbery to create an effect like fairy lights. The yard was still mostly covered with clean white snow, but this only added to the effect.

Inside, lights lined the windows and twined through the garland that laced its way up the staircase. Mokuba had hung mistletoe in doorways and other, more private locations. A giant tree dominated the living room, decked out in white ribbon, glass and frosted ornaments, more white lights, and candy canes. Stockings hung above a roaring fire. As more guests poured in, they added their gifts to the already gigantic pile at the base of the tree.

Caterers wandered around with platters of hors d'oeuvres and champagne flutes. Two manned a bar that was serving vitamin waters and sodas to the under-aged. Dinner was scheduled to start in another hour.

The last of the guests arrived as the volume spiked over the gentle background music.

"Yugi!" Mokuba called as a service member took the group's coats. "Anzu, Ryou—Honda's already here, come in, make yourselves at home!"

"Where's Jou?" Yugi called over the noise.

"Hiding in the kitchen, I'm sure," Kaiba drawled, walking up to them. "I think I scared him when I said dinner wasn't until seven."

"I'm not hiding."

"Jou!" Anzu yelled. The blonde submitted to being hugged by the three of his friends who had most recently arrived. "Where have you been?!"

"Here, helping this guy decorate. Did you know there are three hundred rooms in this house? Though to be fair, we didn't decorate them all."

"Good thing you didn't. I want to say that number qualifies it as a palace," Yugi replied lightly. "What on earth could two boys need three hundred rooms all to themselves for?"

"There are not three hundred rooms in this house," Kaiba interjected testily.

"Okay, two hundred and ninety-eight."

"There are not—"

"They're just teasing, Kaiba. It's all in the spirit of fun," Ryou interrupted gently.

"Humph. Enjoy the party."

The four friends laughed as Kaiba turned and stalked off. Mokuba apologized and quickly darted off to entertain other guests and generally see to it that the party continued smoothly. Yugi and Ryou spent a moment admiring the decorations.

"C'mon, let's move out of the foyer and find Honda," Jou suggested after a moment of standing around. Anzu agreed readily, and together she and Jou pulled the other two boys after them.

** - - **

The noise was almost deafening. It started at the basic, quite background music in good holiday cheer, and increased in sound to the people talking throughout the room—two people, three, four, twenty, more, all at once. Above this, the sound of cutlery clanking against china as people took in the buffet. On top of it all, the sound of silver striking crystal rang out clearly just twice.

Quiet fell, though the soft music continued, only to be muted quickly by a household aide.

"I would like to propose a toast," a man called out to the room. He was a Kaiba Corp employee, a higher up, and apparently a man Seto trusted and relied upon greatly. "To the Kaiba brothers, for their continued good health in the new year, good luck in their enterprises, and general happiness in their lives."

"To Seto and Mokuba Kaiba!" the cheer rang out. The brothers smiled to the people nearest them as the guests clinked glasses. Seto excused himself politely and left the room, stepping out into the gardens.

"Did it get too loud for you?" a voice asked, tinged with a hint of laughter.

Seto turned toward the source of the voice. "Mazaki."

"Hey," she said, stepping forward from where she had been leaning against the wall. "How've you been? Seems like we haven't had much of a chance to talk since the blizzard."

"What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Nothing, really." The girl answered lightly, taking no offense from the CEO's testy response. "I'm just in the habit of talking to my friends. It's been a while, so I thought I'd say 'hello.' Is that wrong of me?" she asked, looking up at the elder Kaiba brother.

"No." Seto turned away, considering going for a stroll away from the house and the guests. The party had been his idea, but he wasn't really used to dealing with all of these people like this. A giant corporate meeting was more his style.

"What's up with you and Jou?" Anzu called after him as he began walking away.

He stopped and turned. "What are you talking about?"

"I dunno, it seems like recently something's been going on. You guys were getting along really well, and then there was that hiccup at the ice rink, and then you two up and disappeared together beneath layers of snow…"

"We did not disappear together." _And I think most people would call that a little more than a 'hiccup' at the ice rink._

"It seemed like you did."

Kaiba glared at her. "We didn't."

"It's not a bad thing. In fact, I'd say I'm quite happy. For both of you." They stared at each other for a moment, challenging one another. "Humph," Anzu broke the silence. "It's one thing to think you can hide your relationship from the guys, but from me? Seriously, have you met me? Of course I would find out."

Seto considered telling her, rudely, that she hadn't found _anything_ out, and then escaping back into the house. Instead, he nodded.

"When were you going to tell us?" the girl asked, gently, easing off the pressure now that she had won.

"Later tonight, after most of the guests leave, before someone assigns you rooms for the night and we go to sleep off the excitement before revealing 'Secret Santa's in the morning."

"Yeah, thanks for inviting us to spend the night, by the way. I'm looking forward to enjoying your facilities."

"If your conversational skills entail talking to people like that, you've been spending too much time with me."

Anzu smiled, and Seto smirked. They stood for a minute longer, enjoying the quiet, ignoring the cold. Again, Anzu was the one to break the silence. "Are you nervous? About telling people, I mean."

Seto pondered for a moment, interested in knowing the answer for himself, for the moment ignoring the fact that this girl he hardly knew was asking him such personal questions—and ignoring more purposefully that so far, he had answered all of them without complaint.

He was a little nervous, he decided. He had said he was ready that day, weeks ago, to Jou. The boy had replied that he was not, and he reflected and decided to accept the truth of that. He had been given time to come to terms with his feelings, and while he was still shy thinking about his relationship in words, he had no problems with acting on it with his new boyfriend in person.

Unfortunately, while he was in no terms a procrastinator, he did possess and uncanny ability to avoid thinking about things that didn't need his immediate attention. In this case, he may have been a little too thorough in blocking out thoughts of confessing his relationship with another man to a group of people he felt he still hadn't really been accepted by. Honestly, he couldn't help being slightly hesitant.

He paused, wondering why he was nervous of confessing if he wasn't friends with the people he was confessing to. He had no reason to fear them: he had no emotional or fiscal involvement with these people, and certainly wasn't physical with any of them. He continued along this path of thinking. If he wasn't nervous for himself, worried about saving face—his face—then was he nervous for, worried about… Jou?

It made sense. Jou was friends with these people; Jou would suffer if they turned on him because of his new relationship. … It made sense, but it still didn't feel right. It didn't feel like he had reached the conclusion he was looking for.

If he wasn't worried for Jou… maybe he was worried for himself. If he was worried for himself, but didn't see a reason to be, that didn't mean that his worry was unfounded. Instead, it meant that he had overlooked something… he wasn't worried because they weren't his friends, but since he _was_ worried, maybe they _were_ his friends?

He shook his head to himself; the Yugi-tachi were not his friends. They were just the people in his age group that he spent the most time with, that had the closest thing to respect anyone ever got from him, that… he was beginning to like. Whose opinion of himself he was beginning to care about.

"You are nervous," Anzu said. She smiled gently. "They won't turn on you, you know. Yugi will give you best wishes and tell you to treat Jou right, Honda will say the same under threat of pummeling if you _don't_ treat Jou right, Otogi won't care, and Ryou will just be happy and quiet and offer polite congratulations like he always does. There's nothing to worry about. Actually, to be honest, Yugi probably already knows."

"Hm."

"I see I haven't convinced you. Jou will notice, you know. He'll offer to put off telling us to ease your mind. I'm telling you now, as appealing as that offer will sound, you have to tell them. They may not be your friends, but they are Katsuya's, and I'm sure he would appreciate it if you treated them with respect. It's getting cold, I'm going back inside."

She turned to leave, but when she reached the door she looked back. "Kaiba, if you don't tell them tonight, I'll convince him to leave you. You have to choose between facing the friends and keeping the boy and avoiding the friends and loosing probably the one person outside your own family you've ever really cared about." With those parting words, the girl disappeared inside.

Seto stood for a moment, contemplating her words, watching as snow began, once again, to fall. His mind snapped back to his body; he shivered, and turned to go back into the house.

** - - **

"Seto!" Jou threaded through the crowd to appear at his boyfriend's side. He stood close enough to stroke Seto's side unnoticed as he spoke. "Mokuba was looking for you."

"He probably wants me to go bid safe passage to all of the guests as they leave and pay the caterers. I'll be back soon." Seto was reluctant to turn away, but duty did call.

"Wait!" Jou grabbed his arm. "About tonight."

"What?"

"If you're still not… not ready, to tell people—" The gentle hand stroked his face, once.

"No. We said we'd do it tonight, and we'll do it tonight." The CEO shuddered to think of just what Mazaki would tell his boyfriend to instigate a break-up. He was sure it would be unpleasant for him in more ways than one.

Jou smiled brightly at his words. "Okay, if you're sure." He paused, and then added, "Um, by the way, I'm sure I was mistaken, but did I see you coming in from outside just now?"

"Yeah. I wanted to get some air and some quiet, it was so loud in here. I have to go find Mokuba, I'll be back soon." He walked off, not waiting for a reply, leaving a slightly stunned blonde behind him.

** - - **

It was nearly 11:30 before everyone left. Seto sighed as the last of the people not spending the night left the mansion to be ushered into a cab and taken home. He had endured multiple-day conferences constituting of days of sitting in meetings for three hours before a fifteen minute break and another three hours to total three, four, or even five days in a row of nine and a half hour work days where the only work completed was diplomacy. He was fairly certain that hosting a six-hour Christmas party wasn't quite the same trial, but it was up there.

He returned with his brother to the living room, where his overnight guests waited for him. Along with the Yugi-tachi, Mokuba had invited four others to spend the night. They planned to crash in sleeping bags in the den, and Mokuba rushed to aid them in setup.

"Kaiba, are we sleeping on the floor too?" Honda asked. He seemed excited.

"I have rooms set up for you," he said, addressing the older teens tiredly. "Though if you'd prefer, I could—"

"He was joking, Kaiba. Individual rooms will be great," Yugi said, smiling.

"Oh. Excellent. Well, then, I've had the extra rooms in my wing prepared for you," he said, turning to walk off in that direction as the group followed him. "I'm in this room," he said, gesturing to a door, "Jou usually sleeps there when he comes over," he pointed to a door across the hall and one door down from his own, "the door next to mine is Mokuba's. The rest of the rooms are open for you. Come get me if you need anything." He leaned back against his door and closed his eyes as the boys ran off to pick rooms.

"You OK? You seem a little… tired," Jou said gently, hugging him around the waist.

"I'm fine. I didn't expect this party business to be so exhausting, is all. A night's rest, I'll be back to my normal self. If that's a good thing or not, I have no idea."

Jou smiled. "Sounds good to me."

"Hey," Mazaki said, walking up. She had laid dibs to the room next door to Yugi's, and was now waiting for him to choose a room. "When are you going to tell them?"

Jounouchi looked back and forth between her and Kaiba, a question in his eyes. "She knows about us," Seto explained. "I just realized, we decided to give out the information but didn't decide who would deliver it. It's a bit late to practice delivering the same words together now."

"It's not that hard. 'Hey guys, we've decided to start dating.' Only six words."

"Jou, that's seven words not counting the contraction. So technically eight." Jou glared at her. "Well it is."

"If Seto is too tired to correct me, I'm too tired to be corrected." He nuzzled Seto's chest.

"Fine," the girl huffed, pretending not to be embarrassed by his show of affection.

"Jou, decision-making time. They're coming back." The two pulled apart to face their friends.

Anzu danced over to Yugi to learn her sleeping arrangements. He had chosen the room on the far side of Jou's.

"I'll tell them, if it's alright by you," the blonde said.

"Sound's good. I'll just go to bed then, if you have everything covered here."

"No!" Jou grabbed the brunette's sleeve. "Stay and lend me moral support." Seto sighed.

The Yugi-tachi gathered around the pair, and before Jou could even open his mouth Yugi was exclaiming. "Kaiba, my whole living room could fit inside that bedroom. It's gigantic. I think that bed'll swallow me! I'm so excited! This is gonna be awesome!"

"Thank you for letting us stay over, really," Ryou said softly. "You're quite kind."

"It's no problem."

Honda yawned. "Okay, I'm totally pooped. I'm going to bed. Night." Otogi nodded and turned to follow.

"Wait a sec," Yugi said. "Jou, didn't you say earlier you had something to tell us?"

"Oh," Honda said, turning back. "Yeah. What's up, man?"

The blonde blushed lightly, but rallied quickly. "Um. I wanted to tell you, uh, that Kaiba and I… we've decided to, um, to date." He blushed more furiously.

"To date… each other?" Honda asked.

Jou glanced up and then away quickly. "Yeah."

"Oh." Honda blinked. "Uh, congratulations." He stood back, looking a little confused.

"Congratulations, Jou!" Yugi yelled, moving in to hug his friend.

"Took you long enough. Is that everything now? Cause I'm tired, I'm going to bed." Otogi turned and disappeared into a room two doors down from Mokuba's.

"Congratulations, both of you. I hope you're happy together," Ryou said softly before disappearing down the hall.

One by one, the friends all left, turning in to their various rooms, until only Honda, Jou, and Seto remained in the hall. Seto yawned and quickly covered his mouth with a hand.

"Hey, listen, Kaiba," Honda started. Seto looked at him. "If you hurt Jou…"

Seto's lips twitched in what could have been a smile. "He's safe with me."

Honda nodded. "Good night, then."

With that, it was just Jou and Kaiba left, standing and leaning in the hallway. Seto yawned again. "Well, that went well, I guess. Good night, Katsuya."

"Yeah." Jou was still gazing down the hall after his friends. He turned to face his boyfriend. "Night, Seto."

The brunette gave a genuine smile and leaned over for a last gentle good night kiss before turning and disappearing into his room. Jou brought a pair of fingers up to his face and brushed his lips lightly, grinning.

** - - **

"Seto. Seto, wake up." Seto considered that for a moment before disregarding it. He was still tired. "Seto. It's ten o' clock. Everyone's up. Mokuba had breakfast made already; if you don't come now, it'll get cold."

"Let it." Seto rolled over so that his back was to the person talking to him.

"Seto, it's Christmas morning. You have to get up. There are presents to open."

"Go away."

"Seto!"

It took some more cajoling, some pleading, and finally some threatening before Jou managed to get the CEO out of bed. The exact words used were, "I'll kidnap Mokuba. Again."

"I'll do worse than punch you in the face if you do," Seto growled, but acquiesced.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, mostly due to the fact that Mokuba's friends had gone home already and Seto's invitees were still trying to wake up. Mokuba and Jou were the only ones really awake and excited.

"Jou, man, stop bouncing already. You're driving me nuts," Honda growled, shoveling eggs into his mouth. "Eat something or something."

Seto grimaced and looked away, sipping his coffee slowly. He couldn't handle eating solid food so early in the morning. His stomach needed time to warm up.

Jou sat still in response to Honda's outburst, for about twenty seconds. Mokuba was as excited as he was. "Can't we just relocate already?" he whined. "Big brother, please? People who're hungry can take their plates into the den and we can get started!"

Seto's eyebrow twitched involuntarily at his brother's high-pitched request. "Fine," he growled into his coffee, "but I call dibs on a couch."

So it was that Christmas morning breakfast moved to the den. Seto sprawled across one couch with just room enough for Jou to perch at his feet; Yugi and Anzu shared the other couch with Ryou. Otogi and Honda took places on the carpeted floor. And Mokuba… "I'll play Santa's Elf!" Mokuba ran to and fro delivering gifts, all labeled "To ____, From Your Secret Santa".

Anzu started the unwrapping by opening her present, a new DDR pad. "Oh… it'll be weird not feeling the duct tape through my socks anymore," she said. "Thanks, Secret Santa." In Jou's version of this game, Secret Santa's did not reveal themselves until all gifts had been opened.

Yugi went next. He opened a set of Dungeon Dice Monsters complete with multiple expansion packs, and felt he might be able to guess who his Secret Santa was. In the spirit of the game, though, he said only, "Thanks, Secret Santa."

And so it continued on down the line: Ryou was delighted to open a vintage table-top RPG, Honda stared stunned at a top hat he had been joking about buying for more than two months, Otogi excited to get drawing with his new do-it-yourself henna kit. Mokuba actually squealed when he opened his present: the latest Sims expansion pack. Jounouchi opened his present: a collection of Duel Monsters booster packs.

"It's your turn now, big brother," Mokuba said. "Open your present."

Seto frowned at the wrapping for a moment before carefully slitting the tape, despite a chorus of "just rip it already!" Out of the wrapping came a box, and in the box was a layer of tissue paper, and under the layer of tissue paper was a pair of…

"Slippers?" Seto pulled them out of the box and set them on the floor next to him, then noticed there was more in the box. "And a blanket?"

"It does get cold in here," Mokuba offered.

His brother looked over at him. "Are you my Secret Santa, then?"

"No," the raven-haired boy shook his head, "I was Anzu's."

"I was Ryou's," Anzu said when everyone looked at her.

"I bought the top hat for Honda," came Ryou's voice.

Honda shrugged. "I got henna for Otogi."

"I was paired with Yugi."

"As if we couldn't guess that," Honda replied. "Yugi, did you get slippers for Kaiba?"

"Nope," the short boy shook his head. "I got cards for Jou. He was Kaiba's Secret Santa."

"Well," Seto said, moving to give the blonde a tiny peck on the cheek, "thank you for a very thoughtful gift."

** - - **

With some dawdling after the revealing of the Secret Santa's, Seto eventually found himself sharing the room—and the couch—only with Jou. Mokuba had gone upstairs to begin on his new expansion pack, and the others… Seto didn't particularly care where the others had gone.

Seto wiggled a toe, and smiled as the slipper bent around his foot. They were nice slippers. His new blanket was draped over the side of the couch—he had decided wearing it would be a bit too warm, with a cuddly Jou snuggled up next to him.

"Do you like your new slippers, then?" the blonde asked.

"I do."

"I almost got you a puppy, you know, since you told me earlier you don't hate them. Puppies turned out to be really expensive, though."

"It's alright," Seto said, ruffling his boyfriend's hair, "I already have one."

**- - **

_FIN._

**- -**

A/N: Well, color me astonished. I don't believe I have ever encountered such kind reviewers; not a one of you gave me a "God damn you update already you whore why are you so slow?!" even though this chapter is six days short of exactly five months late. Sorry if you're not exactly in the Christmas spirit anymore. By the way, though I didn't actually say so this chapter, if you don't remember, Seto is Mokuba's Secret Santa. That was established back in Chapter 3.

Honestly, I can't believe I ever finished at all. It is a first for me, and no doubt about it. I would like to thank everyone who has followed this fic from start to finish (myself included) for a wonderful time, and please look forward to the next story—which still, I might add, has no name.

Anyway, summer's almost here—I have seventeen days left of school before I can more thoroughly devote myself to the writing of these stories. I probably won't get the first chapter of the next story out before then, but I suppose we can all hope.

I also had an idea for a different story (not the companion piece to this one). Since I'm a little bored of SoF (I've actually been working on this chapter, intermittently, for the past month) that one might take precedence.

If any of you are planning to attend Fanime this weekend, please feel free to say "hello"—I'll be there on Sunday, and be identifiable as the one with the top hat and the cape and the mask and the flock of Sailor Scouts. I hope to see you all there, as it promises, as always, to be a great deal of fun. (I was nervous to mention this, but last year I got glomped by two random strangers whose only warning was a shout of "MISTY!!" and also stalked by a ninja girl and asked to take pictures with several different people I had never met before. Since I'm basically setting myself up to be attacked by cosplaying, I might as well invite people who have some background knowledge of me to attack me as well as all of those random strangers.)


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